Fuel Scarcity Increases as Marketers Count on NNPC

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fuel-Queue

Following the refusal by banks to fund the importation of fuel products on account of unpaid subsidy claims by the federal government, fuel scarcity in the country took a turn for the worse on Monday as virtually all private marketers turned to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for products, Thisday reports.

As fuel scarcity bit harder, long queues were evident at retail outlets in Lagos, Abuja and other cities in the country, with some petrol stations in Abuja selling fuel at N120 per litre.

However, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has cautioned against panic buying, promising that supply would improve once the federal government pays outstanding subsidy claims this week.

Owing to the shortfall, THISDAY gathered that NNPC has increased the volume of imports, with three imported cargoes conveying products to the three jetties in Apapa, which receive over 50 per cent of imported products in the country.

Investigations revealed that at the North Oil Jetty (NOJ) – one of the Apapa jetties – a vessel, TORM FREYA, brought in by NNPC yesterday discharged 23 million litres of petrol to the NIPCO and Aiteo tank farms.

Under normal circumstances, NOJ is dedicated to imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene and base oils.
But a source at the jetty told THISDAY that due to the prevailing emergency, they had to flush the line to avoid contamination, so that PMS vessels could discharge.

As TORM FREYA was discharging, a second vessel imported by NNPC, TORM NILY, was also waiting to berth at the Bulk Oil Jetty also in Apapa, to discharge to major marketers.

It was also learnt that a third NNPC vessel, MT BADE, arrived yesterday at the Petroleum Wharf Apapa (PWA).

The vessel will discharge products to Oando, Total and other marketers with tank farms in the area.

Other jetties are at the Folawiyo depot and in the Ibafo area, and have received imported products for MRS and Capital Oil. However, all the available products in the said jetties, it was learnt, belong to NNPC.

Some of the marketers, who spoke to THISDAY, confirmed that only NNPC was importing products, thus tightening the fuel supply situation.

They blamed the current scarcity on the failure of government to pay the outstanding N264 billion subsidy claims.

The marketers also stated that the banks had refused to give them credit facilities because of their unpaid loans which would have been offset if government had paid their claims.

Though the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, met with the marketers in Lagos last week and promised to pay the claims before the end of this month, the marketers had warned that it would take weeks for the supply situation to normalise.

“Everything belongs to NNPC and it is difficult to load other marketers. When this type of thing happens, it takes between 14 and 21 days for the situation to normalise. So I can’t see any marketer bringing products until next week,” said a marketer.
The Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, said based on the assurance by the finance minister, the marketers would ensure that the situation is normalised.

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Olawore, who cautioned against panic buying, said supply would improve this week, adding that the subsidy claims for February would be paid to the marketers this week, according to the schedule of payments by Okonjo-Iweala.

“When they release the money, the marketers will place orders for products. However, the PPMC has made more products available. Major marketers now have 40 million litres, while NIPCO and Aiteo have 18 million litres. More NNPC vessels are bringing in 100 million litres. So within this week, supply will improve in Abuja and Lagos,” he said.

Barely four days after Okonjo-Iweala promised to pay the N264 billion subsidy claims by the end of March, thus encouraging the marketers to ensure sustained importation, NNPC at the weekend said it had injected an additional 688 million litres of petrol into the market.

NNPC also advised Nigerians not to engage in panic buying and hoarding of petroleum products as it was working with all downstream industry stakeholders to eliminate the noticeable artificially induced fuel queues in some fuel stations.

But despite these assurances by the corporation, the supply situation is yet to improve as several unscrupulous marketers capitalised on the situation to hoard products and engage in profiteering to shortchange customers.

The situation has led to noticeable queues and panic buying at fuel stations in Lagos and other cities.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which characteristically was overwhelmed by the activities of the marketers, could not check the situation as a random check carried out by its officials on fuel stations yesterday, was limited to the Lekki area of Lagos.

However, some petrol stations in Abuja were caught by a monitoring team of NNPC, DPR and PPPRA officials selling petrol at N120 per litre.

While major filling stations like NNPC outlets kept to the regulated price, petrol stations in satellite towns sold the product above the government’s stipulated price of N87 per litre.

In Kubwa, for instance, a major satellite town in the city, a petrol station opposite the popular Daughters of Charity Hospital and a few others, sold the product at N120 per litre.

Notwithstanding the hike, hundreds of motorists were seen crowded at the outlets trying to fill their petrol tanks.

Similarly, another station on the Nyanya-Abuja road sold the product at N110 per litre.

In a bid to stem fuel shortages, the management of NNPC yesterday began new measures to halt what it described as artificially induced petrol scarcity noticeable in some parts of the country.

To this end, the corporation said it planned to import more than one billion litres of petrol in March to address the shortfall in supply.

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Also, the Group Managing Director (GMD), NNPC, Dr Joseph Dawha, in conjunction with the chief executive officers of NNPC subsidiaries, have begun detailed monitoring of fuel stations in Abuja.

Others in the exercise were the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr. Farouk Ahmed, and the Managing Director of Pipeline Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Haruna Momoh.

Also in the team was the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. George Osahon.

Dawha said the exercise was to checkmate hoarding and panic buying of petrol, particularly in Abuja, Lagos and its environs.

The GMD said there was enough petrol in the nation’s stock to take care of the need of motorists.

He said as the supplier of last resort, the corporation was doing everything within its mandate to alleviate the avoidable hardship caused by the situation.

The Executive Secretary, PPPRA said the problem was more artificial because there were enough products in the country.
“The problem we have is not really with the supply because there is enough products.

“The PPMC has almost more than 800,000 metric tones that will be arriving in the month of March which is over a billion litres in terms of our daily consumption.

“Other marketers are also bringing in their cargo. So by the end of the week, hopefully, everything will be clear.

“I think we should just encourage the people to desist from panic buying; things are going to be very okay,” Ahmed said.
The Managing Director of PPMC said the corporation had more than enough petrol in stock for the entire nation.

Momoh explained that there was a good build up till April and with this build up, “we are very confident that we will not have any problem in terms of supply.

“There are challenges with distributions; we will continue to handle those challenges and we will try everything possible to make it seamless, smooth and as stable as possible beyond April”.

He added that the agency was putting measures in place to address other challenges beyond April.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation has blamed the sudden fuel scarcity in many parts of the country on sabotage by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which it claimed has infiltrated the ranks of fuel marketers.

Spokesman of the campaign team, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said in a statement in Abuja yesterday that the fuel marketers had taken a sub-contract from the opposition to frustrate supplies of petrol to fuel stations as part of a grand plan to create tension in the polity.

According to Fani-Kayode, “We know who the fuel marketers are.  We know the relationship that exists between one of the biggest fuel marketers and a national leader of the APC.

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“These unconscionable opposition elements infiltrated the ranks of the fuel marketers, whom they have contracted, in a calculated attempt to frustrate the good efforts of government.

“Why have they taken this time when all hands are on deck for the March 28 elections to cause this artificial fuel scarcity?  The situation is so bad that they are not importing the product. They are even threatening tank farmers not to release any fuel in their depot in order to sustain the shortage.

“We are aware that the tank farms have reported the threat to the police and other security agencies.

“This shows how desperate and wicked the opposition APC can be in their quest for presidential power. Must they make Nigerians suffer simply because they want to rule? They must desist from this act of sabotage.

“The opposition should not take delight in celebrating over the pains and sufferings of Nigerians as they have continued to do with the Boko Haram attacks on our people and nation.

“The APC’s penchant to diminish the gallantry of our Armed Forces in the battle to defeat the insurgency in the northeast zone whilst mocking the government whenever the insurgents bomb and take over villages in the zone, must be condemned by well-meaning Nigerians.

“This predilection exposes and portrays the APC and its leaders as forces of retrogression with a devilish mindset to unleash the worst form of anarchy on the nation before, during and after the March 28 presidential election because they know their party and presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari will be dealt a crushing blow by President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls.

“The PDPPCO also wishes to use this medium to alert the nation on the lingering plot by the opposition elements who have been sponsoring their agents of destruction in the power sector to vandalise critical infrastructure in order to reduce the quantity of electricity that is being generated and reverse the gains that government is making in the sector.”

But in a swift response, APC described PDP’s allegation as unconscionable, adding that it amounted to an abdication of responsibility by the PDP-led federal government.

APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohmmed, said in a statement yesterday night: “It is totally unconscionable, and indeed an admission of failure, for a sitting government and ruling party to blame the opposition for their failings. These guys have simply abdicated their responsibility to the people.

“They might as well throw in the towel and head home. The questions to ask are: who runs the NNPC? Who pays subsidy to fuel marketers? Who has used federal resources to bribe individuals and groups to such a level that there is no money to run the government, not to talk of paying subsidies?”

APC said the moment a ruling party starts transferring its responsibilities to the opposition, “it is clear that the market is over”.