According to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, it will take at least two weeks for the petrol scarcity that is currently affecting several states in the Country to return to normal.
This is despite yesterday’s insistence by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NPCL) that it has sufficient supplies of the product on hand.
The product is not available in the nation, according to Chinedu Ukadike, IPMAN’s public relations officer. This is because most refineries in Europe are undertaking turnaround maintenance, he claimed that finding the product has become a little more challenging.
Ukadike further attributed the severe lack of supplies on import restrictions and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority’s (NMDPRA) slow license renewal process for marketers.
Out of 15,000 marketers, he said that just 1,050 got their licenses renewed by NMDPRA.
“The situation is that there is no product,” he stated. When there is insufficient or no supply, you will notice scarcity, and queues will form at gas stations.
“Logistics and vessel issues have been cited as the challenge by NNPCL, the sole supplier of petroleum products in Nigeria.
Because we are dependent on imports, any disruption in the global supply chain will affect home supply. Additionally, I’ve been informed via reliable sources that the majority of refineries in Europe are currently undergoing turnaround maintenance, which has made it more challenging to find petroleum goods.
“The Group CEO of NNPC has guaranteed us that the arrival of their vessels will result in an improvement of the supply chain. When it is completed, things will resume as usual. This is due to the fact that it takes two to three months to recover the 30-day supply sufficiency once it is compromised.
“We anticipate that NNPC should be able to restore supply by next week or so, and that normalcy should return within another week.”
In response to questions about the difficulties marketers are having renewing their licenses, he stated: “NNPC has stated that marketers who are unable to do so will not be permitted to stay on their platform, which has been inaccessible for some time. We are unable to request additional products as a result of this.
Even when the product arrives, you will find that this causes shortage at this early stage of deregulation. As of right now, only 1,050 of the 15,000 licensed merchants on the portal have renewed their licenses, according to their data.
“NMDPRA requires a great deal of renewal. It is a hostile environment for marketers. The NNPC gave marketers until April 15, 2024, to renew their licenses.
Therefore, we are pleading with NNPC to extend this deadline and with NMDPRA to expedite the release of licenses to marketers who have finished their procedures while also easing the bootleneck in license renewals.
