Oil marketers have increased the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol in northern states including Niger, Benue, Kano and Plateau.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria confirmed the price hike to The PUNCH on Sunday and attributed it to the high cost of diesel used by trucks that transported petrol from the South to the North.
It was gathered on Sunday that the ex-depot price of petrol at private tank farms had increased to between N610/litre and N615/litre, forcing independent marketers to raise their price at filling stations to between N630/litre and N680/litre, depending on the location of purchase.
Ex-depot price is the price marketers buy products at the depot and it determines the price at which they will sell to motorists.
About two weeks ago, the cost of petrol at filling stations operated by independent marketers in the North ranged from N617/litre and N625/litre, but it has now increased to between N640/litre and N680/litre.
Independent marketers operate about 70 per cent of filling stations nationwide, hence they supply petrol to most Nigerians across the country.
Explaining the price hike particularly in the North, the spokesman for IPMAN, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, said, “You know that because we are importing PMS, the products come in through the coastal areas. So trucks travel several kilometres to come and get products from these coastal areas and distribute them to the far North and other distant regions.
