WE WILL SUPPLY ONLY WHAT WE HAVE - OIL MARKETERS

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Oil marketers have blamed persistent logistical issues for the current round of Premium Motor Spirit, or gasoline, scarcity.

Billy Gillis-Harry, President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association (PETROAN), made this revelation on Monday.

He asserts that oil marketers might “distribute only what we have” because supply is currently limited.

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.”

When asked to give further explanation on what the logistics challenges were all about, 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.

He said, “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 explanation of the scarcity follows persistent commodity shortages, particularly in the country’s northern regions.

Over the course of the weekend, though, the shortage reached Lagos.

According to reports, some filling stations are now selling a liter of the product for between ₦800 and ₦1,000, which has raised transportation costs.

However, some filling stations weren’t selling the merchandise because criminals were taking advantage of the situation to make quick cash.

This is in line with claims that surfaced last week, which connected the shortage to money that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited owed to foreign oil merchants.

However, in a response on Sunday, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye debunked the report.

Soneye, however, acknowledged that it is normal to owe at one point or the other since the oil trading business, transactions are carried out on credit.

“But NNPC Ltd., through its subsidiary, NNPC Trading, has many open trade credit lines from several traders.

“The company is paying its obligations of related invoices on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis,” he said.