Thunderstorms, flooding responsible for fuel queues in FCT
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has explained the reasons for the current fuel queues in Abuja.
The spokesperson of the NNPC, Olufemi Soneye, said the fuel queues in the Federal Capital Territory were primarily due to the disruption of ship-to-ship transfer of Premium Motor Spirit between mother vessels and daughter vessels.
This, Soneye said resulted from recent thunderstorms and the consequential flooding of trucking routes which constrained the movement of PMS to Abuja from coastal corridors.
“The fuel queues in the FCT are primarily due to disruption of ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of PMS between Mother Vessels and Daughter Vessels resulting from recent thunderstorms, and the consequential flooding of trucking routes which constrained movement of PMS to Abuja from coastal corridors,” Soneye said in a terse statement on Monday.
The PUNCH reports that fuel scarcity is gradually surfacing in Lagos and other parts of the country as private depot owners hiked the ex-depot price of petrol from N630 to N750 per litre.
Our correspondent reports that a number of filling stations have run out of stock as they refused to buy high-priced fuel from the private depots.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, told our correspondent that many filling stations did not open for business because they had no fuel in their tanks.
He said the NNPCL which is the sole importer of petrol at the moment, should explain to Nigerians what is happening with the product.
“Those that shut their stations do not have fuel to sell. When you don’t have fuel, you cannot open your station. That is the problem. You know the NNPC is the sole importer of this product. I think it is in the best position to tell us what is actually going on.
“Currently, independent marketers cannot buy what the private depots are selling. They are selling fuel between N715 and N720 per litre. How much will marketers sell the product? Look at the cost of bringing it to their depots; with transportation and other depot expenses, it will be too costly for them. That is why the stations are shut down.
“Some marketers refuse to go and buy because they know the masses cannot afford high-priced petrol in this economy. That is the situation for now,” the IPMAN leader stated.
Our correspondent learnt that the third parties who are private depot owners used to sell PMS to independent marketers at the rate of N630-N650/litre before now while the NNPC sells petrol to major marketers at a price below or around N600.
