Oil marketers blame NNPC for fuel crisis, say scarcity may linger for 2 weeks
Long queues and soaring prices plague Nigeria as petrol scarcity tightens its grip on the nation.
The bulk stops on the table of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), according to Billy Gillis-Harry, the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN).
The oil chief made the allegation on Monday, April 29, 2024, while appearing on Channels Television’s breakfast show, “The Morning Brief,” insisting that the current supply challenge stemmed from NNPC’s internal logistics problems.
Many retailers in major cities like Abuja and Lagos have been observed to be exploiting the situation by selling fuel at prices between N750 and N2,000 per litre.
This shortage, which has triggered a nationwide increase in transportation costs, further compounds the burden on the shoulders of Nigerians in a country heavily reliant on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) for its transportation needs amid other issues.
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According to Gillis-Harry, PETROAN members were willing to sell fuel to the public as soon as NNPC delivers necessary supplies.
He said: “NNPC has its outlets that they also serve. So, if they have some logistics issues, that will possibly be what is internal to NNPC. But as for us, PETROAN members, we can tell Nigerians for real that if we have petroleum products delivered to us, supply to us upon payment for those same products, we will supply to Nigerians.
“I would like to correct Nigerians that we retail outlet owners or marketers as they generally call all of us is the reason for this. We do not have any reason not to serve the public and we are willing to serve the public.
“All that is required is for us to have petroleum products delivered to us from NNPC and we will make sure that our retail outlets are open, some of them are even open for 24 hours. The challenge of logistics is only relevant to the NNPC retail outlets.”
Commenting on the development, Chinedu Ukadike, the Public Relations Officer of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), attributed the current unavailability of petroleum products in the country to sourcing challenges arising from maintenance activities at refineries in Europe.
He said, “The situation is that there is no product. Once there is a lack of supply or inadequate supply, what you will see is scarcity and queues will emerge at filling stations.
“On the part of NNPCL, which is the sole supplier of petroleum products in Nigeria, they have attributed the challenge to logistics and vessel problems. Once there is a breach in the international supply chain, it will have an impact on domestic supply because we depend on imports.
“I also have it on good authority that most of the refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance, so sourcing petroleum products has become a bit difficult.”
Ukadike, who explained that the ongoing maintenance at European refineries has disrupted the supply chain, noted that the NNPCL CEO had assured marketers of the restoration to normalcy.
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He said: “NNPC Group CEO has assured us that there will be improvement in the supply chain because their vessels are arriving. Once that is done, normalcy will return. This is because once the 30-day supply sufficiency is disrupted, it takes two to three months to restore it.
“We expect that by next week or so, NNPC should be able to restore supply and with another week, normalcy should return.
Arbiterz understands that economic downturns in terms of currency devaluations can affect a country’s ability to import petroleum products, leading to shortages as purchasing power diminishes.
This may not be unconnected to recent fluctuations in naira-dollar currency market, where the naira exchanged for as low as 900 only to suffer setbacks, depreciating to 1300 to a dollar with fear of further depreciations.
Other causes of fuel scarcity may include inadequate storage facilities which may limit storage capacity in stockpiling petroleum products during times of surplus.
Also, for a country like Nigeria with heavy reliance on imported petroleum products, the situation may constantly expose her to supply disruptions caused by international market fluctuations, geopolitical tensions, or shipping disruptions.
