Unic Press UK: The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has issued a press release, refuting the allegations by the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) that the scarcity of fuel in the country was the result of NNPC’s inability to supply fuel to the marketers.
Excerpts from the press release Wednesday from the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, reads:
“NNPC wishes to affirm that it has supplied appreciable volume to DAPPMA, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) to rid the challenges currently being experienced in the supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country. … DAPPMA which members had taken receipts of products from Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC and owe the company to the tune of ₦26.7 billion as at December 21, 2017, has the audacity to indict NNPC unjustifiably. Despite the concession by the government giving access to DAPPMA to obtain FOREX at an official rate of ₦305 per dollar for PMS import, their members have not been able to do so, leaving NNPC as the sole supplier of PMS to the Nigerian market.”
NNPC affirmed no recent moves to increase the price of Premium Motor Spirit above ₦145 per litre, saying that: “NNPC will continue to maintain ex–depot price of ₦133.28 per litre, which guarantees the pump price not exceeding the ₦145 per litre capped by the government.”
The position aired by the NNPC was a sequel to a press release by DAPPMA, in which the marketers body blamed the NNPC and its subsidiary Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) for the acute scarcity of fuel in the country. In its press release Monday, DAPPMA said:
“Our members’ depots are presently empty! However, if PPMC/NNPC can provide us with PMS, we are ready to do 24 hours loading/truck out to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians…”
“While we cannot confirm or dispute NNPC’s claim of having sufficient product stock, we can confirm that the products are not in our tanks and as such cannot be distributed. If the products are offshore, then surely, it cannot be considered to be available to Nigerians.”
“Again, this is contrary to claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and its downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, that fuel vessels are discharging the commodity in ports across the country on a daily basis.’’
“Our members pay PPMC/NNPC in advance for petroleum products; and fully paid up PMS orders that have neither been programmed nor loaded is in excess of 500,000MT (about 800,000,000 litres) as at today and enough to meet the nation’s needs for 19 days at a daily estimated consumption of 35,000,000 litres!”
