Why Petroleum Marketers Dump Kerosene Importation - IPMAN

By ZION Olalekan |

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said that the activities of airlines conveying Muslim faithful for their yearly Lesser Hajj pilgrimage was major reason why the price of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) also known as Kerosene has increased at depots and filling stations.

Speaking exclusively with our correspondent in Lagos at the weekend, Lagos State Chairman of IPMAN, Alhaji Alanamu Balogun said that over the years, the marketers have discovered that the movement to Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia was pushing up the price of kerosene occasioned by its scarcity.

He said that airlines were also using the kerosene as JET A1 also known as aviation fuel to power their engines, and this has placed a lot of demand on the kerosene.

Investigations carried out by our correspondent at the depot last week also revealed that there is multimillion naira cargo of kerosene trapped at some of the depots because marketers were not willing to come forward and buy at a high cost.

The IPMAN Chairman told our correspondent that no marketer is currently willing to invest on importing or buying kerosene from the depot because the demand for it was at its lowest ebb. He noted that the demand for kerosene has now been overshadowed by the availability of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) also known as cooking gas.

Alanamu however noted that the price is gradually dropping as the Muslim pilgrimage was gradually returning back to the country. He placed the price of kerosene at N250 per litre.

He said, “It is gradually coming down, two months ago, the price was increased, it is still very costly but it has gone down a little”.

“What we have noticed is that whenever it is time for the Muslims to travel for hajj, the plane conveying them is also using what we call JET A1 which is also Kerosene, it is the same, so, at this time, it usually pushes up the price of kerosene, but now that they are coming back gradually, the price is gradually coming down”.

“Before now, kerosene has been sold for N270 and N300, but now the price is N250. I am confident that before the end of this July, the price would be normalized; the kerosene is the same as the aviation fuel”.

“The availability of LPG otherwise known as cooking gas has reduced the patronage of kerosene drastically, so when we bring it to petrol stations, we don’t see people coming to buy or demand for it, this is the reason why our members don’t want to tie down their money” he said.