Fuel Scarcity Looms as Marketers Exchange Petrol for Diesel

Despite assurances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that it has put enough measures in place to forestall another fuel scarcity, there are strong indications that the country may be plunged into another round of scarcity of the product soon.

At the weekend, LEADERSHIP learnt that marketers were running out of stock.

A dependable source in the industry revealed that scarcity of the product is imminent.

This is coming as a marketer, whose product holding facility is used by the NNPC to serve other marketers, confirmed that its stock has gone down.

LEADERSHIP learnt that the marketer has asked those who have deposited money for petrol to come for refund or take diesel in place.

“We have about N6 million deposited by marketers for supply of peterol,  but because  we no longer have the product, we have informed them of the situation but they can take AGO (Diesel) in its place. It is now as bad as that,” our source said.

Another source also told our correspondent that NNPC may be importing fuel but the landing cost is impacting on marketers’ profit margin.

“The NNPC do not have the facilities to distribute the imported products. They may have the product but they have a serious logistics challenges and if marketers stop taking products from them because of the low profit margin, the Corporation, I can assure you, will not be able to ensure distribution of petrol across the country,” the source said.

However, despite the seeming crisis, the NNPC has kept reassuring Nigerians that the country will not be thrown into any fuel scarcity, confirming availability of the product, despite challenges faced by marketers in augmenting importation.

Confirming the current fuel situation to LEADERSHIP in a telephone interview, NNPC spokesman, Ndu Ughammadu advised the public not to engage in panic buying as the Corporation has put all measures in place to ensure product availability.

According to Ughammadu, “We have issued a statement confirming that we have enough product, even though our refineries went down but they are up again refining petrol and kerosene”.

The clarification was coming as the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) lamented that over N660billion debt owed marketers by the federal government for imported fuel and interest on bank loans has posed hindrance to petroleum importation into the country.

Its Executive Secretary, Mr Olufemi Adewole disclosed this against the backdrop of long queue of trucks along Ijora-Apapa waiting to load product at Dockyard and  Apapa depots in Lagos.

Ughammadu however, said that the situation is not suggestive of imminent scarcity and should not even lead to crises.

Adewole said that most marketers have stopped importing product due to inability to access foreign exchange and government refusal to pay outstanding debt owed.

He said that marketers currently owe some Nigerian banks over 1 billion dollars, which they took as loans to import fuel, and because the government couldn’t pay them or pay the banks interest on the loans as agreed, the interest accumulated over time.

According to him, the main debt is over N500billion while interest on loans is over N160billion.

“The inability to pay or service the loans has not only stalled their further importation of fuel but is threatening the operation of the affected banks and the nation’s financial industry at large

“Foreign exchange remain another big challenge, we don’t have forex to import the product, except were able to get adequate forex.

“For now landing cost  on petrol  stood over N145 due to high forex rate which posed serious concern to marketers on the price to sell the product,’’ he said.

Ughammadu maintained that despite seeming challenges, the Corporation has a responsibility which it will continue to discharge diligently.