Oil marketers blame fuel scarcity on logistics challenges

Oil marketers have attributed the ongoing fuel scarcity across the country to persistent logistics challenges.

This comes just 24 hours after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) cited similar issues.

Billy Gillis-Harry, President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association (PETROAN), made this known during an interview on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.

He explained that oil marketers are currently constrained by supply limitations and can only distribute the fuel they have available.

He said: “I think until we get our supply challenges sorted out efficiently and abundantly, we will not be able to get out of this circle.

“I believe you must have heard the NNPC’s communications director who explained that the issues at stake are still logistics-related.

“So until they get that resolved, we may just be managing the little they bring, and give to us to distribute among our members.

“NNPCL is doing its best to bring in products bit by bit, and we can only supply what we have.”
On what the logistics challenges were, he said: “The logistics issue is about ship-to-ship transfer. Until the ship gets products, it cannot deliver to any of the depots. And until depots have products, we the retailers cannot also have access to products,”

He, however, assured that marketers were in talks with the NNPCL over supply challenges, adding “we have been speaking with NNPCL. We encourage them to do more, and I can assure you that they are trying their best.”

Gillis-Harry’s clarification on the scarcity comes following lingering shortages of products, especially in the northern parts of the country.

The scarcity, however, spread to Lagos over the weekend.

Recall that a litre of the product now sells for between N800 and N1,000 in some filling stations, a move that increased the cost of transportation.

Some filling stations were, however, not selling the product as black market racketeers took advantage of the situation to do brisk business.

This is as reports emanated last week, linking the scarcity to debt owed to international oil traders by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.