Fuel crisis may worsen further as forex scarcity bites

The current forex scarcity in the country may worsen the petrol scarcity in the country if the situation is not brought under control soon, petrol marketers have warned.

Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) Clement Isong, said although there were vessels laden with petrol imported by the NNPCL on the high seas waiting to discharge, the cost of hiring ‘daughter’ vessels for the operation has been discouraging due to the high cost.

Isong said hiring a ‘daughter’ vessel to bring the product from onshore to offshore now costs $45,000 per day as against $20,000 because of the high cost of diesel.

Isong said: “The challenge is the exchange rate and the scarcity. It is very difficult to get dollars. A ‘daughter’ vessel is hired for 10 days to discharge the content from the ‘mother’ vessel. This means that it has shot up from $200,000 to $450,000. Then, marketers and depot owners also pay the NPA and NIMASA charges in dollars. Yet, the dollar is scarce and difficult to get.”

This situation, he explained, is the reason many marketers and depot owners are unable to lift petrol from the ‘mother’ vessels.

Isong said even when some of them lift the product, they still have to factor in the cost of the dollar and other logistics at their depot because no business likes to operate at a loss.

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He added: “The problem is really the scarcity of the dollar. The higher the dollar rate, the higher the cost of operation. Unfortunately, you also have these charges to pay to government agencies, like NIMASA and the NPA in dollars.

“There is a bottleneck at that point. It is true the NNPCL has brought the vessels onshore, but it is the bottleneck in bringing the products offshore into the private depots that is an issue because of dollars. The depots are charging to recover their cost. Many people are already closing shops.

“Even we, as MOMAN, cannot go and pick the product because we cannot hire a vessel at that price, because we have our limits. That’s the challenge. Every time the dollar rises, it impacts many things.”

The National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mike Osatuyi, said marketers were finding it difficult to get the product owing to a shortage in supply.

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Those who have to sell, he said, go the “extra mile” to get supplies to their stations.

“NNPCL is the sole importer of petrol. So, if they cannot make the product available, then how do we get petrol to lift and sell to the public?” Osatuyi asked.

Further findings revealed that most filling stations, including some NNPCL outlets, depend on the Pinnacle Oil terminal depot in Lekki, Lagos, for supplies.

This has led to a slow turnaround time for supplies at the depot as tankers have to wait endlessly to load.

An NNPCL station manager, who spoke in confidence, said that for over one week, he had been sleeping at the depot to get supplies.

He said: “It is not a funny situation. Mosimi depot is down and no product is available there for supply. So, most of us now depend on Pinnacle depot for supply. Even there, we have to wait for a long time. Can you imagine that I was able to get only one 33,000-litre truckload of petrol out after spending one week at the depot?”

It was also gathered at the weekend that the scarcity might worsen sooner due to the disruption in the supply chain.