Fuel Scarcity: Retail Outlets Peg Petrol Price At, N200 Per Litre In Bayelsa  

By Caleb Tamunosaki
As the fuel scarcity bites harder, filling station operators have increased the pump price of fuel from N165 to N200  per liter in Bayelsa State.
The sharp practices among Indepedent marketers had resulted in long queues in filling stations across the state.
The NNPC Mega station  is the only filling station that still sells fuel the official pump price of N162 Naira per litre.
The fuel queues have refused to disappear as the number of trucks supplying fuel to the state is getting fewer.
For in stance, out of a total of 27 trucks expected from the depot to supply fuel to Bayelsa, only nine arrived the state on Wednesday while others were either diverted or not given the product.
Worried by the outcry of the people over the increase in the pump price, the Chairman of the  State Petroleum Task Force, Chief Ebipade Richman, held an emergency meeting with representatives of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Central Zone.
The meeting which held at the office of the Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, mounted heavy press  for the product to be  sold at normal price.
However, the  filling station operators   told the task force that selling the product at the official pump price was almost impossible with the current situation in the country.
They opted to lock up their stations instead of selling at a loss.
The marketers said that they buy the product at above pump price around   N200 and N10 per litre with the cost of transportation from the depots in Warri and Port Harcourt.
The Marketers also tendered evidence of the depot cost which is the receipt used for the purchase at the depot to justify the sale of the product above pump price. 
The Task Force Chairman  Chief Richman confirmed the development to The Network, on the telephone on Friday.
He said that the Task Force comprising government officials, the security agencies and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, had taken a decision to limit the quantity of fuel that can be sold into Jerrycan to a maximum of 25 liters to check  black market trade in the scarce product among other measures.