Hard Times Ahead as Uncertainty Grows Over Moribund Refineries

AAs Nigeria continues to rely solely on refined imported petroleum products, especially the Premium

Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, there are strong indications that the recent fuel crisis that engulfed parts of Nigeria is a prelude to harder times ahead, while the oil sector grapples with a myriad of challenges.

These include dwindling investment outlay, divestment by the oil majors, high cost of production, low output, depleting foreign reserves, hidden subsidy payment and expensive moribund refineries among others.

After some period of “stability” the nation’s oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), experienced supply hitches that led to weeks of petrol scarcity in some parts of the country, especially the major cities where the product is in higher demand,

This pushed the citizens, households and businesses into further hardship that worsened an already tough situation. During the period, petrol sold for as high as N1,000 per litre in some areas leading to increase in transportation, high cost of goods and other services while some businesses had to shut down.

0il marketers had blamed the fresh scarcity of petrol on the lingering supply challenges from NNPCL, the sole oil supplier. According to the National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harr, the supply challenge has remained unresolved even though NNPCL continued to play down on it, blaming it on “logistics issues”.

“As for us, PETROAN members, we can tell Nigerians for real that if we have petroleum products delivered to us upon payment for those same products, we will supply to Nigerians,” Gillis-Harr said while featuring on a Channels News Television programme.

He added, “We do not have any reason not to serve the public and we are willing to serve the public. All that is required is for us to have petroleum products delivered to us from NNPC and we will make sure that our retail outlets are open, some of them are even open for 24 hours. The challenge of logistics is only relevant to the NNPC retail outlets.”

Some stakeholders and industry experts maintain that NNPCL was being economical with the truth regarding the cause of the scarcity which crops up from time to time during which they merely caution the public against indulging in “panic buying”.

Giving a deeper insight into the matter, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) explained that NNPC was having serious challenge sourcing petrol from European refineries which are currently undergoing scheduled maintenance.

The Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, who revealed to Journalists that the product was currently unavailable in the country due to challenges in sourcing caused by ongoing maintenance at refineries in Europe, explained that the scarcity was expected to take around two weeks to resolve.

He said, “The situation is that there is no product. Once there is a lack of supply or inadequate supply, what you will see is scarcity and queues will emerge at filling stations.

“On the part of NNPCL, which is the sole supplier of petroleum products in Nigeria, they have attributed the challenge to logistics and vessel problems.

“Once there is a breach in the international supply chain, it will have an impact on domestic supply because we depend on imports. I also have it on good authority that most of the refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance, so sourcing petroleum products has become a bit difficult.

“NNPC Group CEO has assured us that there will be improvement in the supply chain because their vessels are arriving. Once that is done, normalcy