Scarcity: NNPC, marketers extend service time at fuel outlets

Pan-industry contingency response activated

Sopuruchi Onwuka

Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and marketing groups in the downstream petroleum market have activated contingency measures to speed up distribution of petrol in the country in order to bridge gaps created by the withdrawal of bad fuel detected in the market last week.

Whereas the NNPC and its market supply units are working to restock the market with some 2.3 billion liters of petrol by the end of the month, marketing groups under the aegis of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) are working with regulators to blend the quarantined petrol into specification for reintroduction into the market.

Meanwhile, the NNPC Limited and all the marketing groups have declared extended working hours at their load out depots and retail stations to quickly address scarcity and arrest panic buying which, according to them, delays supply normalcy in the market.

In an official tweet yesterday, NNPC announced commencement of 24-hour operations in all operated depots and retail outlets to restore normal supply and distribution of petrol across the country.

Group spokesman, Garbadeen Muhammed, stated that extension of service hours became necessary to accelerate distribution “earlier disrupted by the quarantine of methanol-blended petrol.

He said the quarantine became a necessary measure to protect users from the potential harmful impact of ‘this grade of PMS’ on engines and machineries.  

With over one billion liters of petrol certified for use in vehicles and machineries already secured in stock, Muhammed said NNPC would accelerate distribution across the country. He further declared that processes are running to land a total of 2.3 billion liters into the country by the end of February, “which will restore sufficiency level above the national target of 30 days.”

He said that members of MOMAN and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have also started 24 hour load out and retail services at designated locations.

In alluding to security caveats served by private companies in the market, Mr Muhammed said the NNPC was working with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA) in collaboration with security agencies to ensure smooth distribution of petrol across the country.

He appealed to consumers against panic buying, assuring that all efforts were being made to provide adequate supply to all filling stations in the country.

In a separate statement, Chairman of MOMAN, Mr Olumide Adeosun, stated that members have committed resources towards enhanced operations and associated activities to reduce the burden of the current fuel scarcity to their customers.

He declared that “MOMAN members shall extend opening hours of jetties, depots, and filling stations to a minimum of 18hours a day and where possible up to 24 hours a day in high density and flagship locations where the security situation permits.”

He assured that “MOMAN members shall operate these extended hours until the excessive queues subside.”

According to Mr Adeosun, members of MOMAN are also working with the regulatory authorities and NNPC towards a resolution of the current fuel crisis, adding that the groups experts are active contributors to the technical and commercial committees setup by the regulatory authorities to re-stock fuel supplies, resolve the blending of contaminated product and identify losses suffered by customers, operators and third parties.

“MOMAN’s committee of chemists is also working with designated laboratories to double check the quality of product (reblended or new) before they are released into the fuels supply chain.

“MOMAN members urge its customers not to panic buy as it might take a few days for normalcy to return and panic buying increases the pressure on the supply chain.”

In her own statement, the Chairman of DAPPMAN, Dame Winifred N. Akpani, said member companies have worked assiduously with the regulatory authorities from the onset to curtail the further distribution of the off-spec fuel in all DAPPMAN Depots and retail outlets.

She said “DAPPMAN also seconded versatile professionals to the Technical and Commercial Committees setup by the regulators (NMDPRA) and stakeholders who have initiated best practices ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ to ensure not only that the off-spec products are quarantined professionally processed, tested and certified good  for distribution to the market, but we are also working with NNPC Ltd through its subsidiary, the PPMC LTD, to ensure that adequate stocks of ‘on-spec’ petrol are made available to Nigerians in all nooks and crannies of the nation.

“DAPPMAN assures all our dear customers and the general public that all hands are on deck and DAPPMAN Depots and retail outlets have commenced, within the security and safety limits allowance, extended hours of loading from our various depots and in all our retail outlets until the situation normalises. We believe with the support and co-operation of all stakeholders, including PPMC Ltd and the regulator, NMDPRA the current challenges of petrol purchase from our various retail outlets will be over.

“DAPPMAN urges the buying public to kindly desist from panic purchases as some stocks of PMS have been received by our members for distribution to our retail outlets and other registered, interested and willing retailers while much more fuel-laden vessels have continued to arrive,” she declared in the statement.

Meanwhile the Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Abdullahi Mahmud Gaya, declared during an engagement NNPC management that the importers of the bad petrol would be punished.

Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, had explained that the controversial petrol cargoes were imported under the subsisting commercial contract operated by NNPC and its partners. He explained that the product passed quality tests at the port of discharge because Nigeria’s specifications do not include methanol.

“We are a law-abiding company. There is no way we could have known about the methanol presence. The only way we could have known about it is if our suppliers, in good faith, made the disclosure to us. In this particular instance, the discovery was made by our inspection agents who noticed the emulsification at the filling stations and brought it to our attention. Subsequent investigation revealed that the four cargoes which are all from the same source also contained methanol-blended PMS,” the CEO added.

The Oracle Today had reported that all the cargoes of the bad petrol sailed off the same port in Europe.

While assuring the Committee and Nigerians that measures have been put in place to accelerate fuel supply and distribution in the country, the NNPC CEO said the company had placed significant orders of over 2.1billion liters of methanol-free PMS to ensure the queues vanish in few days.

He pledged that NNPC would co-operate with the Committee and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to get to the root of the matter.

The NNPC CEO also expressed deep empathy with Nigerians on the current situation and assured that adequate measures have been put in place to maintain supply sufficiency and prevent future occurrence.