Queues at petrol stations in Lagos, Abuja and several cities across the country grew longer yesterday as marketers claimed that the depots now have limited supply.
Petrol marketers told Vanguard that NNPC Limited, which has returned as the sole importer of the product, was rationing supply to depots.
The Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, who confirmed the development, told Vanguard in a telephone interview that most independent stations were unable to secure products from the depots.
Ukadike noted that with NNPC Retails as the sole importer of petrol into the country, marketers across the country were relying on the government owned oil company for supplies.
He stated: “The issue we have is that most of the private depots have gone out of stock because they argument supply from NNPC Limited. Since NNPC is the sole importer, these private depots that independents buy products from also depend on the NNPC for their supplies. This arrangement is also encouraging profiteering.
“We have been finding it very difficult to pick products from NNPC in the past five days and that is why you are seeing the skeletal scarcity. It is not major yet. The important point here is that despite the deregulation, NNPC is still the sole importer of PMS and no other depot is importing.
“Some of the portals owned by NNPC have shutdown and are no longer issuing authority to lift to marketers in some of their portals. This significantly shows that there is a gap in the chain of supply. But I was reassured by the MD of NNPC that they are expecting products and they will feed us very soon”.
According to a reliable downstream industry source, NNPC has now adopted a policy of supplying product to only depot owners with at least 50 fuel stations.
But NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, has said that there was no need to panic as there was enough stock.
A statement by NNPC Retails read: “NNPC Retail Ltd notes the appearance of fuel queues in some parts of Lagos and a few other locations around the country. This is due to reduced Depot loadout in Apapa, Lagos over a
few days, and the root cause has since been addressed”.
But further investigations show most retail stations in the country may run out of fuel supply in the days ahead as only about 60 percent of the Depot owners have up to 50 retail stations.
SOURCE: VANGUARD
