NMDRA pays N71.234 bn bridging claims to marketers

Sopuruchi Onwuka

New regulators for the domestic fuel market, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA) says it has paid some N71,234 billion to different mart players in the country to compensate for local transportation of petroleum products.

Of the total amount, the retail arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited collected N6.66 billion.

 The NMDRA stated that the remaining part of the amount was shared to companies belonging to different market groups in the country.

According to the agency, marketers under the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) received N9.96 billion; members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) collected N42.3 billion; and members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) received N12.3 billion.

The Oracle Today reports that the payment, also called bridging claims, is designed to guarantee uniform pricing of petroleum products across the country following the dilapidation and outage of the nation’s fuel distribution pipelines.

Bridging and subsidy claims form main sources of disputes between the government and petroleum products marketers who operate tens of thousand filling stations in the country.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of NMDRA, Engr. Farouk A. Ahmed, government is committed to defraying the cost differentials arising from transportation of petroleum products from the points of procurement to retail stations across different parts of the country.