The NNPCL, the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria, claimed to have 30-day sufficiency of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) but acknowledged the queues.
Despite their assurance, queues continued in Lagos, Abuja, Nasarawa, Niger, and other states.
Billy Gillis-Harry, President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, stated that there was a supply breach. Despite NNPCL’s announcements, the products were not visible in the market.
The PETROAN president also said that marketers were beginning to get offers from refineries abroad. –
“We are having offers from several refineries. We want to talk to the President to consider creating an energy bank that will be able to fund this move at very minimal charges.
“The government should also guarantee the foreign exchange for the importation of refined petroleum products until we can repair our refineries and start producing in-country to meet our local demands for products.
“So we are getting offers to partner with the firms by buying products from refineries abroad because they have found out that PETROAN is credible in the downstream oil sector, and they are willing to partner with us by supplying refined petroleum products,”
“For your information, the prices being offered are very competitive. We are going to access products at less than $600/metric tonne. With this cost, our products are going to be more affordable than what you buy at the pumps now,” he stated.
Chinedu Ukadike, National Public Relations Officer of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, revealed that NNPCL had not imported petrol recently. He pointed out that the lack of a forex guarantee hindered independent marketers from importing, exacerbating the scarcity.
“The NNPCL has revealed that PMS consumption across the country has dropped by some considerable amount, which means that they will not increase their import volumes because they believe the amount they are importing is sufficient.
“However, I know that they have not imported products lately because for over a month, we have not been able to access products from them, and this issue of subsidy is now a challenge. It is now increasing because of the forex rates,” he added.
Many independent oil marketers had been unable to access PMS for over a month, leading to the closure of several filling stations and persistent queues at operational outlets.
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