The Public Relations Officer of The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, has disclosed that the fuel scarcity currently experienced across the country is expected to persist for two weeks before normalising.
Mr. Ukadike made these remarks on Sunday, April 28, 2024, stating that petrol is currently unavailable nationwide. He attributed the challenge of fuel scarcity to the turnaround maintenance of refineries in Europe, which has hindered access to the product.
Furthermore, he pointed to importation delays and the sluggish rate of license renewal by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) as contributing factors to the shortage. As of now, only 1,050 out of 15,000 marketers have had their licenses renewed.
He said, “The situation is that there is no product. Once there is a lack of supply or inadequate supply, what you will see is scarcity and queues will emerge at filling stations.
He revealed that the sole supplier of petroleum products, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has linked the issue to logistics and vessel problems.
“Once there is a breach in the international supply chain, it will have an impact on domestic supply because we depend on imports. I also have it on good authority that most of the refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance, so sourcing petroleum products has become a bit difficult.
He said the NNPC Group CEO assured that there will be an improvement in the supply chain and once that is done, normalcy would return.
“We expect that by next week or so, NNPC should be able to restore supply and with another week, normalcy should return”.
“The requirement for renewal by NMDPRA is so much. Marketers are facing a hostile environment. NNPC placed a deadline of April 15, 2024, for marketers to renew their licences.
“We are, therefore, appealing to NNPC to extend this deadline and also to NMDPRA to hasten the release of licences of marketers who have completed their processes, and also reduce bottlenecks around licence renewals.”
