…as IPMAN says scarcity may persist for 2 more weeks
Fuel marketers in the country have blamed the lingering fuel scarcity on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, indicating that the supply challenge leading to the current scarcity emanated from the logistics challenges NNPCL faced which it is yet to address.
The body, represented by Billy Gillis-Harry, the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), made this clarification on Monday while speaking on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief breakfast programme.
In the last few days, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol, has become scarce in most petrol retail outlets across the country, with the scarcity mostly felt in Lagos and Abuja as long queues persist.
On April 25, Olufemi Soneye, chief corporate communications officer of NNPC Limited, assured Nigerians that the price of PMS would not change, despite the scarcity being faced by the product users across the country.
Soneye said: “The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) wishes to clarify that the tightness in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit currently being experienced in some areas across the country is as a result of logistics issues and that they have been resolved.
“It also wishes to reiterate that the prices of petroleum products are not changing. It urges Nigerians to avoid panic buying as there is a sufficiency of products in the country.”
The assurance given by NNPCL has had not effect on the retail prices of the product, which have surged from about N580-N650 per litre in about a week ago to as high as over N1200 in some states currently.
“It is the real situation that fuel is not available in most retail outlets across the country. The reasons are easy to understand. We can only sell the products that we have. We only get the products from NNPCL. Therefore, the challenge is supply,” Gills-Harry said.
On the logistics challenge being faced now, Gills-Harry said that the challenge is peculiar to NNPCL’s retail outlets, adding that all that is required is for NNPCL to supply the products to marketers across the country.
Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, has said the current fuel scarcity will last for additional two weeks.
Chiendu Ukadike, the Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, said the scarcity issue was caused by import bottlenecks, the slow pace of marketers’ license renewal by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA), as well as the fact that many European refineries are currently undergoing turn around maintenance.
Buttressing his point, he said only 1,050 retail outlets have products out of about 15,000 retail outlets in the country.
Ukadike 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.
“This is because once the 30-day supply sufficiency is disrupted, it takes two to three months to restore it.”
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the price of PMS rose on an annual basis by 163.65 percent to N696.79 per litre in March 2024 as against N264.29 per litre as of March 2023. It rose the highest in the north east geopolitical zone at N732.37 per litre.
The same product cost on the average N712.30 per litre in the south east; N702.63 in north west, N701.54 in south-south, N681.76 in north central and N654.24 per litre in the south west geopolitical zone as of March 2024.
On a state-by-state basis in March 2024, it was highest in Taraba State at N761.92; N749.09 in Yobe and N735 per litre in Adamawa.
On the other hand, PMS was cheapest in Ogun at N651.25 per litre, N645.88 in Oyo, and N630.75 per litre in Lagos State, due to proximity to the ports of importation into the country.
