Fuel Crisis: Marketers, DPR Dispute NNPC’s Claim – Thisday
December 22, 2009 by tim
As Nigerians continue to experience severe hardship due to widespread fuel scarcity in the country, the authorities and industry operatives are busy making claims and counter claims. The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) have said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) does not have fuel stock that could last for 41 days as claimed.
This came as the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, said the government would investigate the 90 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) allegedly imported by the Pipeline Products and Marketing Company (PPMC) that could not be accounted for. Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, told journalists in Lagos yesterday that available evidence showed that NNPC had stock sufficient for only five days as opposed to 41 days. His statement was corroborated by officials of the DPR who during a presentation had told the minister that the NNPC had 4.3 days sufficiency. Olawore went further to state the five days sufficiency was only within the Lagos area.
The MOMAN official claimed that as at yesterday, only two NNPC vessels were discharging products at Apapa, while a third vessel, MT Rofos, was discharging 18 million litres for the major marketers. He stated that NNPC had about a total of 12 vessels on the high seas but claimed to have 19. “The truth is that I don’t believe that they have 41 days stock anyway – I don’t believe that. If you look at the situation within their depots, you will find out that apart from the coastal depots, there is no depot in the north that works. “So, if they have 41 days, where are they keeping the 41 days? And if they have stock on the high seas – in vessels and they are counting that as part of the stock they are holding, then, one should be worried because what is on the high seas cannot be accessed within a short time,” he said.
Olawore also described as untrue, allegation by the NNPC that the major marketers refused to import products after receiving approval from the government. He explained that the fourth quarter approval should have been issued in September to enable them plan in advance. But the approval was received in the middle of last month, according to him. The process does not end with approval because marketers have to request import permit from the DPR. He added that it could take up to six weeks from that period to prepare letters of credit and bring vessels into the country. The implication, he said, was that the present fuel scarcity in the country could persist till next year. Officials of the DPR had also told the minister that the NNPC had only 4.3 days sufficiency. They however stated that additional 358 million litres were being expected from the corporation. This, according to them, could raise the stock level to 14 days sufficiency.
