PPPRA Gives Oil Marketers Approval To Fix Retail Price Of Petrol

….Explains Why Marketers Are Not Importing Petroleum Products

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency has explained why the Petroleum Product Marketing Company remains the sole importer of petroluem products in the country.

It blamed the development on the challenges being faced by oil marketers in accessing foreign exchange, adding that this has had a negative impact on the sector.

The agency said the inability of marketers to access foreign exchange is impeding their ability to import petroleum products, thereby making PPMC the sole supplier of the product.

The General Manager, Administration and Human Resources department, PPPRA, Victor Shidok, said these in a press briefing on Tuesday.

He said, “PPMC has remained the only source for product supply, as the challenges of accessing Forex hinders other marketers from importing.

“We treat PPMC like other marketers, and the prices of other marketers depends on where they source their products”.

Speaking further, Shidok noted that the year has been challenging for the sector as access to foreign exchange dropped due to the significant decline in foreign earnings as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted negatively on the economies of the world.

“We are not earning much foreign exchange as we ought to, hence there is pressure on the little that we have and it becomes really difficult and that is what we are seeing today,” he added.

According to him, there is no direct relation between the price of crude and the refined product price.

Speaking further, he noted that the removal of the oil subsidy signifies the complete deregulation of the sector, as other products have since been deregulated.

He said, “Marketers who add value to turn the crude to refined products are allowed to cost the refined products at their will which should not be unbearable for the consumers.

“Under the deregulated regime we do not talk of fixing price, people fix prices based on the value they add. Everyone is allowed to source product and sell in accordance to the law”

He said as an agency, the PPPRA’s mandate does not include fixing market price at which petroleum product is sold but only regulate the sector.

He added, “PPPRA do not fix price at which products are sold, we monitor and protect consumers interest.

“In PPPRA, we do not just sit and watch the market, we know the trend in the market and that way we are able to monitor it”.