Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Surprisingly there has been no fuel scarcity threat yet in Rivers State and environs at the moment, even as petrol scarcity has worsened across the country.
This is as scarcity of PMS has persisted nationwide particularly in Lagos, Abuja, Southwest and Northern parts of Nigeria, despite the assurance by NNPC Ltd that it had addressed the hitches that caused the latest round of the product scarcity in the country.
Many filling stations across the country are out of stock, while long queues are seen across a few stations dispensing the product in Abuja, Lagos, and other cities in the country; a situation which has seen transport fares increase along many routes, even as black marketers make brisk business.
However, fuel prices in Port Harcourt range between N591 and N750 per litre. While Rainoil in Borokiri dispenses PMS at N750 per litre, MRS at Aba Road sells at N645/litre, as Conoil in Rumuomasi dispenses at N730/litre and NNPCL at N591 per litre.
Commenting on the development, an Energy Marketing Expert, Dr Joseph Obele said fuel supply fluctuations and distribution turbulences would continue as long Nigeria keeps depending on the international market for its daily petroleum products supply.
Obele, who is a former IPMAN Chairman in Rivers State, said Rivers State had a large supply of PMS two weeks ago, hence marketers were still dispensing their old stock.
He maintained that succour to the nation’s petrol distribution network and price stability can only be guaranteed when Nigeria commences local refining in-country.
“The truth is that the landing cost for importing petroleum products in Nigeria is continuously increasing and becoming unbearable to NNPC, hence the supply gap.
“Fortunately, the case in Rivers State is different because NNPC supplied a large vessel of PMS to Port Harcourt private depots about two weeks ago
“Marketers in Rivers State were allocated few quantities, while a large quantity of the said vessel supply was loaded and dispatched to Lagos and the Northern part of Nigeria.
“At the moment, the majority of Stations in Rivers State are still dispensing available stocks. Although fuel queues are gradually building at some locations in Port Harcourt.”
Obele also cautioned against panic buying of petroleum products in Port Harcourt, saying that there was no threat of fuel scarcity in the state.
He also berated NNPC Ltd for depriving marketers of products meant for Port Harcourt, as middlemen usually channel it to other parts of the country, and called for the even distribution of products by NNPC across the state.
“As we commend the management of NNPC Retail Ltd for prioritising Port Harcourt as a critical supply destination, we will also request that products shipped to Port Harcourt should be reserved for Rivers State and surrounding states. The situation is like giving you something with the left hand and taking it back with the right hand.
“There was a situation that happened sometime last year where a particular vessel discharged in Port Harcourt private depot was programmed and loaded for trucks heading to Northern Nigeria, without reserving any single truck for marketers in Rivers State, we blocked all the trucks before few allocations was given to host marketers.
“We desire that stocks should be distributed among all the states but priority should be given to the host state which the contrarily is the case for now.”
