reprieve from the current scarcity of
Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) from
Thursday following the injection of about
100 million litres of the product into the
system.
The Executive Secretary, Major Oil
Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr.
Obafemi Olawore, told one of our
correspondents that members of the
body received 30 million litres of petrol
from the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation on Monday.
These, he said, were expected to be
increased to 50 million litres on Tuesday
(today) with additional 20 million litres
from the NNPC.
"Today (Monday), the NNPC gave us 30
million litres of PMS and we expect
another 20 million litres on Tuesday
morning. This will bring us to a total of
50 million litres," Olawore said.
According to him, Conoil and NIPCO
have also imported 44 million litres of
petrol.
"Conoil and NIPCO have brought in 22
million litres each, which brings us to
another 44 million litres. Since the first
quarter import allocation was given by
the Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency last week, the
marketers began importation and other
major marketers are expected to bring
their own before the weekend," he said.
With about 100 million litres injected
into the system and more expected to
land in the country by the weekend,
Olawore said consumers would soon
begin to feel the impact of the fresh
supply.
"By Thursday, we will start seeing the
impact of the current development in
fuel supply," he said.
The NPPC, in a statement on Monday,
said it had supplied 33 million litres of
petrol to MOMAN for onward
distribution to filling stations in the
Lagos metropolis and beyond.
The acting Group General Manager,
Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Dr.
Omar Ibrahim, stated that the extra
volume of 25,000 metric tonnes of
petrol, the equivalent of 33 million
litres, was supplied to the marketers as
part of measures by the corporation to
end what he called artificial scarcity of
the product.
"While we intensify our ongoing direct
monitoring of fuel stations across Lagos
and its environs, we are providing the
extra volume of product to eliminate
the noticeable queues arising from the
induced scarcity," he said.
The NNPC appealed to marketers and
members of the public to refrain from
hoarding and panic buying of petrol.
However, Olawore, who said it was
important for him to put the record
straight, stressed that MOMAN got 30
million litres of petrol on Monday and
not 33 million litres as claimed by
Ibrahim.
While the fresh injection is expected to
bring respite to consumers, industry
analysts have warned that it will only
scratch the surface and that it will take
more than two weeks for the fuel
supply situation to normalise.
According to them, the 100 million litres
can only meet about three days'
demand judging by the over 35 million-
litre average daily consumption.
They warned that the impact would be
minimal, while insisting that it would
take time before adequate supply would
go round the nation.
The fuel scarcity situation worsened on
Monday as many filling stations were
shut to customers, while the few ones
that had the product recorded long
queues of desperate motorists
struggling to buy fuel.
One of our correspondents, who
monitored the situation on Monday,
found out that some marketers in Lagos
were already making undue profit from
the situation by selling the product
above the N97 official pump price.
They sold the product for N110 per litre
in some areas of Lagos and Ogun states.
Some of the marketers, who spoke
under anonymity, attributed the
increase in pump price to ancillary costs
added to the ex-depot price of petrol.
"For instance, the union fees, which
usually is 30 kobo per litre, now hovers
around 50 kobo; so also the transport
cost," one of the marketers said.
Others claimed that they were getting
the product from third party sources
and could not afford to sell at N97 per
litre.
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