Petrol volume in depots near zero level – marketers

The fuel situation in Nigeria may become more critical after next week if the National Assembly does not approve the N413 billion supplementary budget meant to be used to settle part of the oil subsidy President Muhammed Buhari has sent to it for approval, industry operators say.

The stakeholders say that petroleum volume at the various depots is near zero and something urgent must be done to avert deeper crisis.

They say despite the outstanding N256 billion, which are the foreign exchange and interest components of the subsidy, Nigeria has a grace of 21 days within which it must make arrangement for December importation, if not, the situation may be worse than what we are currently experience and the Christmas will be without fuel for people to travel around.

They say approving the supplementary budget will enable the Federal Government pay subsidy money to oil marketers, who would then make the necessary arrangements to bring in imports. It would take about 14 days to make the necessary arrangements and get the product from direct sources in Europe, and by the time the products arrive the country territorial waters it would take at least another seven days for it to get to the depots.

The stakeholders appeal to both the Senate and the House of Representative to within a matter of days pass promptly the supplementary budget, because of the low volume of the product in the system.

The other reason they adduce for their appeal is that the Christmas and New Year holidays are fast approaching, and with the volume of traffic normally experienced this period more fuel would be consumed thereby increasing demand.

Olufemi Olawore, executive secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), who corroborated the views of the stakeholders, says the private sector that usually import about 60 percent of the national consumption is now incapacitated due to lack of funds, lack of support from banks to open letters of credit, and also lack of foreign exchange to liquidate matured letters of credits.

He says in order to put an end to the current scarcity and to avoid the confusion during the upcoming season; it is imperative that the National Assembly treats the supplementary budget as a matter of national urgency.

Also speaking, Olufemi Adewole, executive secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), laments that the members of his association have not been able to pay for the last cargoes they brought into the country because they have not been able to get enough foreign exchange from the CBN.