By Isaac Kertyo
Marketers and other stakeholders yesterday pleaded with the Federal Government to flood the domestic market with adequate petrol to eliminate ongoing scarcity.
The government had last week, reassured Nigerians of its capacity to restore sanity in the supply and distribution of quality Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, across the country within a short period.
It had also disclosed at the end of a meeting with some oil marketers, to resolve the issues generated by the recent supply and discharge of methanol blended petrol in some depots.
But the operators, including marketers and experts, who spoke with Vanguard in different interviews, said the nation required the injection of commercial supplies to meet demand.
Specifically, the National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, said: “The shortfall is the major factor for the instability. The Federal Government should work towards flooding the domestic market with adequate petrol. Once the domestic market is flooded, the long queues and other issues would disappear.
“For many days, our members have made frantic efforts to buy the product from depot owners. They have not been able to meet our demand, apparently because of limited stocks. The only way to ameliorate the situation is to flood the market with adequate petrol.”
Sharp practices
As a result of the shortage, some filling stations have embarked on sharp practices, including the retailing of the product at between N200 and N300 per litre at various locations in such areas as Festac, Amuwo-Odofin, Ago, Orile in Lagos.
Situation report
However, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, held a crucial meeting with stakeholders, yesterday, to review the situation and adopt new measures to tackle them.
It was gathered that the stakeholders, including major marketers and depot owners, who noted the existence of bad petrol, long queues, illegal hawking of the product at high prices, agreed that much needed to be done.
Rising from the meeting, stakeholders also urged the government to import enough cargoes in order to eliminate the long queues in some parts of the nation, especially Abuja, Lagos, Oyo and Ogun states.
MOMAN reacts
Commenting on the present situation, the President, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, Olumide Adeosun, said: “The reality of the matter is that there have been a constraint on supply, but there is a great effort in making sure that there is a consistent amount of vessel with petrol coming into the country.
“There is a clear aggregation and segregation of the contaminated product. There is a great amount of scrutiny over the quality of products imported into the country.
“As of today, we have been able to complete full remediation which involves the blending and recertifying of about 10 per cent of the overall contaminated petrol imported into the country.
“We all have a role to play in addressing this situation before us, as something that we do not want to happen has happened. Of course, there will be a break in supply because there is an interruption in supply in the past two weeks.
“A large portion of what comes to the major marketers is moved to the independent marketers. I can say for sure now that there are three to four independent marketers I know that have a lot of products in their tank.
“To be honest, as part of the steering committee which was set up last week, I must confess, the regulators are working tirelessly to wet Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, among other cities. Racketeering and profiteering are not being done by marketers, but persons around these stations are the ones creating the additional tension in supply.”
Imported petrol
Meanwhile, not fewer than 11 ships laden with petroleum products are currently waiting at the high sea to berth at Lagos ports.
According to the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, shipping position, of the 11 vessels, seven are carrying petrol; two Automated Gas Oil (diesel), one of Jet A1 (aviation fuel) and one of butane gas.
The vessels are carrying 20,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) of petrol each, 10,000mt of diesel, 5,500mt of Jet A1 and 6,000mt of Butane gas.
The tanker vessels are marked “stemmed” and currently waiting at the Lagos anchorage.
The shipping position also showed that no petroleum product is expected into the country through Lagos port between February 11 and 27, 2022, apart from those already on the anchorage.
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