MARKET NEWS
‘Why nationwide fuel scarcity may persist’ - THE GUARDIAN
By Collins Olayinka, Abuja
…NNPC mum as fuel scarcity worsens in states
…NMDPRA moves to Lagos to restore official price
There are indications that the challenges confronting the distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) may not abate for as long as the price of crude oil is above $100.
Sources at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) told The Guardian in Abuja yesterday, that the global supply system, which has led to the rise of crude oil beyond $120 per barrel, is one of the reasons supply will be a challenge for the foreseeable future.
Coupled with the hesitation of the Federal Government to develop a policy on the downstream sector amid dwindling foreign exchange, the country may have found itself in a precarious situation.
While the crude oil export receipts continue to dwindle, leading to the NNPC not being able to make remittances to the federation account, the continued subsidy regime is emerging as an albatross for the states and the Federal Government.
A former President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, accused government officials of benefitting from corruption embedded in the subsidy regime.
Meanwhile, a team led by the Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure (DSSRI), Ogbuko Ukoha, has been dispatched to Lagos by the Authority Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, to restore normalcy.
The Guardian was told yesterday that Farouk, who was well briefed by his team, took a decision to ensure distribution is unhindered.
NMDPRA also said there is no increment in the ex-depot price, saying, “There is no way a price adjustment would be done without official communication. When the President approved additional N10 for transporters, it was announced to the Nigerian public.
“In this case, there is no decision on the pump price increment. The team that was dispatched to Lagos will interface with marketers, NNPC and other government agencies in the entire supply chain to ensure everyone is on the same page. NMDPRA is fully aware of its responsibilities and it is discharging it diligently.”
On its part, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) appeared not to have an answer as the scarcity of petrol hits productive hours of Nigerians.
The spokesperson of the company, Garba Deen Muhammad, did not respond to the messages sent to him requesting for clarification on the scarcity.
The Guardian had, on Monday, written to NNPC over the scarcity without any reply. A follow-up call yesterday was not responded or replied before this report was filed.
NNPC is the sole importer of PMS into Nigeria and currently has approval to spend nothing less than N4 trillion on the payment of subsidy this year.
An insider familiar with the prevailing development told The Guardian that two ships loaded with PMS had been unable to discharge the product at the Pinnacle Depot around the Dangote Refinery in Lekki.
The source disclosed that an attempt to discharge the product, the ship, had led to a breached part of infrastructure at the depot while the repair of the damaged infrastructure, which is necessary for off-loading, had been elusive for almost three weeks.
In the last weekly evacuation notice released by NNPC on the 16th of this month, no loading was done at Pinnacle. The weekly national PMS Evacuation Report for 30th May to 5th June, 2022 showed that 42.3 million litres of PMS was loaded from the facility in the period.
Also while the NNPC supplied 79.50 million litres in the last week of May into the first week of June, truck out for the week 6th to 12th June, 2022 went down to about 65 million litres.
This created a deficit of almost 14 million litres daily. While the NNPC did not release the data for the week from 13th to 19th of June, some marketers told The Guardian that the truck out to the market is now unbearable.
They equally noted that the sole importer had pushed almost half of its products to Pinnacle instead of spreading it across depots.