There are strong indications that the scarcity of petroleum product being experienced in the country may continue till next year, even as the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol is now sold at a N104 at the tank farms in Lagos.
Stakeholders at the tank farms told Shipping Position Daily that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the major cause of the scarcity as it has refused to take the bull by the horn.
There are strong indications that the scarcity of petroleum product being experienced in the country may continue till next year, even as the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol is now sold at a N104 at the tank farms in Lagos.
Stakeholders at the tank farms told Shipping Position Daily that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is the major cause of the scarcity as it has refused to take the bull by the horn.
A source at Ascorn tank farm in Ibafon jetty, Mr. Owolabi Jimoh told our correspondent that products are being rationed to the tank farms and that this is why many of them are currently empty.
According to him, his depot has only received product from the NNPC three times in 2012 and that this is because the corporation does not allow marketers to import the product again because of the subsidy.
"We have only received products three times this year, it is supposed to be done regularly, as you can see that everybody is just sitting down idle" Owolabi said.
Other factors that stakeholders envisaged may prolong the scarcity is the NNPC’s System 2B Pipeline which was vandalised in August 2012; the pipeline according them, is still out of service,
The System 2B Pipeline pumps petrol from the offshore Atlas Cove Depot in Lagos to the NNPC Satellite Depot, Ejigbo; Mosimi Depot, Ogun State; and also to Ibadan, Ilorin and Ore depots.
Meanwhile, Shipping Position Daily in a chat with customers at some filling stations in Apapa last week felt the pulse of the consumers who lamented the fact that the price of petrol now appears to have been pegged permanently at N120 per litre.
A customer at Total Filling station, Prince Adedotun Adeyemi said that: "The unofficial price of fuel is now N120 per litre, the only way out of this is for government to repair our refineries in order to improve production capacity and also, new Greenfield refineries should be built".
Another respondent, Mr. Ajose Ogunsami said that: "I buy my fuel at N110 per litre. My advice to the government is to repair our refinery and build more of it, in other to ease free flow of fuel in the nation. In other words privatisation of the sector is another key thing which the government should give a chance".
A respondent Mr. Emmanuel Adeaga also told our correspondent that "for some time in the country now, I have been buying fuel for N110 per litre, some filling station sells it N105 per litre claiming that they are selling it at the rate they bought the fuel, the sad thing about this is that you can’t even get this fuel to buy easily at this high price".
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