NNPC Lying About Reason for Fuel Scarcity—Oil Marketers

By Dipo Olowookere

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been accused of not being truthful to Nigerians on the main cause of the present shortage of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, across the country.

Oil marketers, under the umbrella of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), in a statement dated Monday, December 25, 2017, denied claimed by government that they were behind the situation through hoarding of the product.

In the statement signed by the Executive Secretary of DAPPMA, Mr Olufemi Adewole, it was explained that the main reason for the shortage was because the state-owned oil firm was not importing enough fuel that will meet the demand of citizens.

“Some people have blamed marketers for hoarding fuel. Unfortunately, this is so far from the truth. Hoarding fuel is regarded as economic sabotage and we assure all Nigerians that our members are not involved in such illicit acts,” the oil marketers said.

Speaking further, DAPPMA said normally, it imports 65 percent of the country’s consumption with Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) bringing in 15 percent, and the NNPC importing the remaining 20 percent.

The group said however, since October 2017, the NNPC has been the sole importer of petrol into the country.

Giving reason for this, DAPPMA said the landing cost of petrol was now N170 per litre and with the government capping pump price at N145 per litre without room for increment, it was impossible for its members to import fuel into Nigeria and still sell at N145 per litre to Nigerians.

“As it stands today, NNPC has been the sole importer of PMS into the country since October 2017 due to the following reasons’

“We all know that we presently run a fixed price regime of N145 per litre for PMS without any recourse to subsidy claims, however, we also have no control on the international price of crude oil.

“Current import price of petrol is about N170 per litre, NNPC, which absorbs the attendant subsidy on behalf of the Federal Government, is the importer of last resort.

“We understand that the NNPC meets this demand largely through its DSDP framework; however, due to price challenges on the DSDP platform, some participants in the scheme failed to meet their supply quota of refined petroleum products, especially PMS, to NNPC. This is the main reason for this scarcity.”

“The international price of PMS went up during the Hurricane Katrina and has not dropped below $600 per metric tonne.

“The exchange rate of the Dollar to the Naira is N306 for PMS imports and also interest rate our banks charge is above 25 percent.

“Landing cost of PMS in Nigeria, based on the scenario above is more than N145 per litre, which means any of our member that imports would have to resort to subsidy claims, a policy already jettisoned by the Federal Government,” it said.

Reacting to the claims by NNPC that it has enough fuel to meet the demands on Nigerians, the association said, “It is on record that anytime the NNPC assumes the role of sole importer, there are issues of distribution, because it is marketers who own 80 percent of the functional receptive facilities and retail outlets in Nigeria.

“While we cannot confirm or dispute NNPC’S claims of having sufficient product stock, we can confirm that the products are not in our tanks and as such cannot be distributed. If the products are offshore, then surely, it cannot be considered to be available to Nigerians.”

It further noted that, “NNPC imports and distributes through DAPPMA, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).

“Our members pay PPMC/NNPC in advance for petroleum products, and fully paid up PMS orders that have neither been programmed nor loaded is in excess of 500,000 metric tonnes, about 800 million litres, as at today, and enough to meet the nation’s needs for 19 days at a daily estimated consumption of 35 million litres.”

Concluding, DAPPMA said, “Our members’ depots are presently empty! However, if the PPMC/NNPC can provide us with PMS, we are ready to do 24 hours loading/truck out to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians until these fuel queues are totally eliminated.

“Fuel marketers remain committed to the progress of the nation and its citizenry as therein lies our own profitability and fulfilment.”