The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, said yesterday that the petrol scarcity currently spreading to more states across the country will take at least two weeks to normalise.
This is even as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NPCL insisted yesterday that it has adequate stock of the product.
However, the Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, said the product is not available in the country.
He said it has become a bit of a challenge to source the product because most refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance.
Ukadike also blamed the acute shortage in supply on importation bottlenecks and the slow pace of marketers’ licence renewal by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.
He disclosed that only 1,050 marketers out of 15,000 have had their licences renewed by NMDPRA.
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.
” 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”.
On challenges faced by marketers in renewing their licences, he said: “NNPC has said the marketers who have not been able to renew their licences will not be allowed to remain on their portal which has been shut for some time now. Because of this, we have not been able to request new products.
“At this nascent period of deregulation, you will discover that this leads to scarcity, even when the product arrives. As it is now, even by their data, out of 15,000 marketers that are on the portal with licences, only 1,050 renewed their licences.
“We are, therefore, appealing to NNPC to extend this deadline and also to NMDPRA to hasten the release of licences of marketers who have completed their processes, and also reduce bottlenecks around licence renewals”.
However, reacting to the crisis yesterday, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye, expressed optimism that the long queues will clear in the coming days, adding that NNPC Ltd has adequate stock.
He stated: “The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, wishes to clarify that the tightness in the supply of Premium Motor Spirit currently being experienced in some areas across the country is a result of logistics issues and they have been resolved.
“It also wishes to reiterate that prices of petroleum products are not changing. It urges Nigerians to avoid panic buying as there are sufficient products in the country.”
The chief executive Officer/Executive Secretary, Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Clement Isong, said: “As the NNPC Ltd said, there were logistics issues and they have been resolved. The marketers who have fuel, are working round the clock and the queues will be cleared in the coming days.”
However, the shortage of petrol witnessed in Nasarawa, Niger, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, last week, spread to Lagos, Oyo, Osun and other states, weekend, thus affecting the movement of goods and persons and by extension, the nation’s economy.
