The petrol scarcity noticed in some states are gradually spreading in spite of assurances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NPCL).
On its part, 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.
The NPCL however, insisted yesterday that it has adequate stock of the product.
Reacting, 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.
‘Importation bottlenecks behind scarcity’
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.
“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,” he said.
“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”.
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