Deregulation is the answer to recurrent fuel scarcity – stakeholders
Stakeholders in the oil and gas industry have once again emphasized the need for downstream sector of the petroleum industry to be deregulated, as this is the only solution to the frequent fuel scarcity in the country.
The focus of the interactions between the senate committee on petroleum downstream and other stakeholders was the need for the government to deregulate the sector and free the government and Nigerians from the harrowing experiences of having to queue at petrol stations.
According to them all the recommendations or proposal the Minister of State for Petroleum, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu made to the Senate committee points to the fact that the sector would only be healthy if it is deregulated or totally liberalized.
He reeled out options being weighed to guarantee seamless supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country within an 18-month corridor, ahead of the eventual attainment of local refining capacity.
Kachikwu explained that it was imperative to explore options which would open up the market and allow oil marketers to import petroleum products and complement the ongoing efforts by the NNPC to sustain the sanitisation of the products supply and distribution matrix.
He listed some of the measures that may paved the way to marketers’ participation in the fuel import regime to include: flexible tax-wave window to accommodate extraneous cost elements, an exchange rate modulation programme and price plurality regime which could allow the Marketers sell at different a price from the NNPC’s.
The Minister said the 18-months emergency window would boosted with a quick revamp and effective use of the nation’s pipeline infrastructure, saying pipeline remains the most reliable means of transporting petroleum products.
He however stated that ultimately what the country needed is to have its refineries working, noting that it makes better business sense to add value to crude oil than sell the commodity raw.
Olufemi Olawore, executive secretary, Major oil marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) while calling for the Payment of the N800billion government is owning marketers he said the ultimate solution to the problem is total deregulation of the sector.
However, Maikanti Baru, Group managing director of NNPC was silence over the issue of deregulation, perhaps in order to be seen and confronting the president who has been reluctant to address the issue of deregulation. He failed to address the issue of how a permanent solution could be arrived at.
Rather was saying the corporation had made arrangements to import additional Cargoes of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) between January and March 2018, with a view to keeping the Country wet, in addition to ensuring a beef-up of the nation’s strategic reserves.
He explained that the expected cargoes would also help to bridge the identified leakages in the system.
The additional volumes is premised on the prevailing NNPC one-Cargo-per day fuel import arrangement designed to guarantee the daily discharge of over 40 million litres of petrol.
As part of measures to sustain the current fuel supply situation, Baru said in addition to the increased volume of products importation, the corporation is also working in consultation with other stakeholders to increase the throughput arrangement with members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), subject, however, to acceptable guidelines to be reached with the group.
Olusola Bello