Oil marketers have attributed the latest scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, to ongoing logistics challenges.
This was revealed by Billy Gillis-Harry, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association (PETROAN), during an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday. He explained that oil marketers are currently constrained by limited supply, stating, “We can only distribute what we have.”
Gillis-Harry emphasized that until the supply challenges are efficiently and abundantly resolved, the issue of scarcity will persist. “I believe you must have heard the NNPC’s communications director explain that the issues at stake are still logistics-related,” he said. “So, until they get that resolved, we may just be managing the little they bring and distribute among our members. NNPCL is doing its best to bring in products bit by bit, and we can only supply what we have.”
When asked to elaborate on the logistics challenges, he explained that they revolve around ship-to-ship transfers. “Until the ship gets products, it cannot deliver to any of the depots. And until depots have products, we, the retailers, cannot have access to them,” he noted.
Despite the challenges, Gillis-Harry assured that marketers are in discussions with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to address supply issues. “We have been speaking with NNPCL. We encourage them to do more, and I can assure you that they are trying their best,” he said.
The clarification from Gillis-Harry follows persistent fuel shortages, particularly in the northern regions of the country, which have now spread to Lagos. Over the weekend, it was reported that the price of petrol had surged to between ₦800 and ₦1,000 per litre at some filling stations, leading to a sharp increase in transportation costs. Meanwhile, some stations have stopped selling the product, while black market operators are taking advantage of the situation.
Recent reports linked the scarcity to debts allegedly owed to international oil traders by NNPCL. However, in a statement on Sunday, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, refuted these claims. Soneye acknowledged that it is common to have debts in the oil trading business, where transactions are often conducted on credit. He clarified, “NNPC Ltd., through its subsidiary, NNPC Trading, has many open trade credit lines from several traders. The company is paying its obligations of related invoices on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis.”
