Tankers besiege depots as petrol shortage worsens

Many tankers are currently at various depots in Lagos waiting to load Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, for onward delivery to states across the country as the scarcity of PMS worsens.

It was gathered on Monday that though some of the trucks had started loading, the supply of the product by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited was still not enough.

Oil marketers confirmed the commencement of loading, but expressed fear that the queues may not disappear till Friday.

Long fuel queues, which have repeatedly rocked capital city Abuja, Nasarawa, Niger, and neighbouring states in recent times, resurfaced in Lagos on Sunday.

The PUNCH reported on Monday that NNPC had vowed to end the queues for petrol by Wednesday, as the black market for PMS boomed on Sunday.

The Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, had told one of our correspondents that the oil firm was working hard to tackle the fuel supply challenges, stressing that the queues should clear by mid-week.

“It’s just an evacuation challenge out of Apapa (ports in Lagos) from the vessel. But we are working on it. It should be resolved. I’m very sure that fuel scarcity will be cleared out by Wednesday,” Soneye stated.

However, when contacted on Monday for updates on the fuel supply situation, the National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, said marketers would only supply what they got from NNPC.

On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, said the challenges in the downstream oil sector were compounded by the recent nationwide hunger protests.

“Aside from the fact that there is not enough supply, the recent protests disrupted activities in the downstream oil sector. We are still struggling to sort that one out and there is also the challenge of low supply of petrol,” he stated.

NNPC is the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria. Other dealers stopped importing the commodity due to their inability to access the United States dollar required for PMS importation.

Responding to an enquiry on why the queues for petrol had failed to clear across the country, Maigandi said, “In our case, we depend on the supply of products from NNPC. So, if they supply products to us, we will move the products to our filling stations.

“They are saying that they have some challenges. So, we are still waiting. Some of our trucks are already at the loading stations of depots waiting to load petrol. Many of our trucks are there.

“But I know that there will be some changes soon because some trucks have started loading. However, it is not every depot that has products now. Some of the depots don’t have products and many of these depots are in Lagos.”

When asked when the queues would clear, the IPMAN president replied, “I cannot say anything about that for now because it depends on the way fuel is being released. So, it depends on the supply from NNPC.”

The fuel queues in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country continued to spread despite the assurances from NNPC that the queues would clear by Wednesday.

This is as operators told The PUNCH that the fuel scarcity may last till Friday before easing off gradually.

As work resumed on Monday, the queues in filling stations increased, giving black marketers more opportunities to make money by selling a litre of petrol at N1,400 per litre in some parts of Lagos.

In different locations across Lagos, there were queues in the few filling stations dispensing the product.

It was gathered that the inability of motorists to access PMS led to a hike in the cost of transportation. Commuters also spent quality time waiting for vehicles to convey them to their various destinations.

Also, some car owners said they had to park their cars for commercial transportation as they could bear spending hours in fuel queues.

Checks by one of our correspondents in Lagos confirmed that filling stations owned by the NNPC retail and major marketers recorded the longest queues on Monday because they sold premium motor spirits between N570 and N670 per litre.

These filling stations, it was learnt, got the product directly from the NNPC at a cheaper rate while the independent marketers depended on private depot owners, who reportedly now sell petrol around N800/litre to them.

The PUNCH learnt that in most filling stations owned by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, a litre of petrol sold for as high as N850 to N1,000, depending on the location.

Private depots were accused of hiking the price as the marketers also bought the product to sell at exorbitant rates to desperate Nigerians.

Sources at Apapa depot informed our correspondent that the loading of fuel was still “epileptic” as of Monday.

Though the sources disclosed that trucks were loaded on Monday, the quantity was not up to the expected target.

 “Loading is still epileptic. Today (Monday), we loaded a bit but still not up to the expected target. The scarcity may remain with us till Friday,” one of the sources stated.

An official of a petroleum firm, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said activities at the depots were still low, adding that it could not solve the current fuel crisis as speculated by the NNPC.

 “Let’s see what happens tomorrow (today), but with today’s (Monday) programming, it may still take up to Friday for the queues to ease, except there is a magic,” the official said.

On Sunday, NNPC spokesman, Soneye, stated that the scarcity was a result of distribution challenges, stressing that the NNPC was working round the clock with relevant stakeholders to restore normalcy.

NNPC Executive Vice President, Downstream, Mr Dapo Segun, appealed for understanding from Nigerians, saying that the company is working with relevant stakeholders to address the distribution, evacuation and logistics challenges.

However, operators at the depots expressed pessimism, saying only magic would clear off the queues if the current fuel shortage continues.

Meanwhile, despite NNPC’s assurance and defence, the fuel queues lingered in many states, while the cost of the commodity crossed N1,000/litre in some locations nationwide.

The pump price of the product hit N980 per litre in most parts of Anambra State.

Although, the price of the commodity has been fluctuating at filling stations across the state on a daily basis, it suddenly rose to N980 at the few petrol stations that dispensed the product on Sunday and Monday and N1,400 at black markets.

Most petrol stations visited in major cities Onitsha, Ekwulobia, Nnewi and Awka sold the product between N980 and N1,000 per litre while only NNPCL sold below N980, although with long queues of vehicles.

As a result, transportation fares remain unstable in the state. This, it was gathered, also impacted negatively on the prices of commodities, especially foodstuff, as food vendors have also continued to hike their prices on the excuse of “high cost of transportation.”

Commuters were stranded at bus stops and motor parks as commercial drivers resorted to only operate during peak hours in order to recover the high amount of money they spent on fuel faster.

A price check conducted by The PUNCH in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, revealed that that the pump price of the product was N850 per litre.

The PUNCH also learnt that some filing stations in Bere area of the city had shut their gates for weeks after they ran out of stock.

BOVAS, a major filing station in the state capital, dispensed fuel at N650 per litre, while NNPCL sub-stations across the city sold the product at N580/litre.

At the African Petroleum and Total filing stations, it sold for N635 and N645 respectively, while the price per litre at Optima filing station, around Challenge area of Ibadan, was N780.

Filing stations along former Akala Way, off New Garage in Ibadan, and other adjoining filing stations in the interiors, dispensed fuel at N850 per litre.

In Osogbo, Osun State, petrol was unavailable in most filling stations in Ayetoro, Old Garage, and Ota Efun Area, while a handful of independent marketers dispensing fuel sold the product for N800/litre.

Motorists and commuters decried the increase in petrol prices in Edo State. Independent marketers sold it for between N830 and N890/litre in the state capital while the outlets owned by major marketers sold for between N680 and N688/litre.

The cost of transportation worsened in Uyo as petrol sold for between N900 and N950/litre in the metropolis.

Residents of Gombe State lamented the increase in the cost of PMS across most filling stations in the state.

It was the same scenario in Bauchi State as customers stayed on long queues to buy the product between N850/litre and N1,000/litre on Sunday and Monday.

Residents of Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, lamented the hike in the price of the product.

The scarcity was also pronounced in Sokoto State as many residents expressed frustration over the development.

The fuel scarcity in the Kaduna metropolis and its environs continued unabated on Monday, causing untold hardship to motorists and other road users.

In Benue State, petrol was sold at between N960 and N980/litre in many filling stations.