The fuel scarcity in the country has been traced to some trapped oil vessels carrying about 150 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the Escravos area of the Niger Delta.
Due to the scarcity, the price of PMS in some states have shot up to as high as ₦800 per litre in some filling stations owned by major petroleum marketers while the black market price has spiked to about ₦1,200 per litre.
According to a report by Business Day, the affected vessels have been identified as Seven daughter vessels carrying a combined total of 150 million litres.
Speaking on the issue, the managing director of NNPC Retail Limited and chairman of the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, Huub Stokman said five empty vessels that are expected to deliver fuel to the Warri area are currently having difficulties exiting Escravos, while two vessels carrying products are waiting to go through the Escravos channel.
“This has lingered for a couple of days. This means if you have seven vessels carrying 150 million litres of PMS that can’t load again or bring in the next products, we will have disruption in the whole value chain,” Stokman said.
Experts have said the Escravos channel is due for dredging as similar incidents occurred at the same location last year when six vessels ran aground due to the damaged breakwaters and shallow depth of the channel.
Recall major oil marketers had faulted the NNPC for failing to publicise the nature of the problem facing the industry. They lamented that almost a week after the scarcity started, they have been kept in the dark about the nature of those challenges.
“They said they have a logistics problem and have 240 million litres in store to distribute. But that was what they told us since last weekend. They said the logistics challenges have been resolved but they didn’t tell us the type of logistics problem they have.” the Chairman of IPMAN Satellite Depot, Lagos, Akin Akinrinade said.
The supply chain issues have further doubled the long queues at gas stations and at the same time, increased the cost of transportation across the country.