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Tag: Fuel scarcity

  • Naira devaluation caused fuel scarcity, says PPPRA

    Naira devaluation caused fuel scarcity, says PPPRA

    The Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday claimed that the fuel scarcity being experienced in parts of the country was caused by the two rounds of Naira devaluation carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    The PPPRA said the devaluation was carried out by the CBN between November 2014 and last month.

    Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, defending the agency’s 2015 budget before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), said the devaluation caused huge confusion in the oil sector as his agency did not know the exchange rate to use for payment on fuel importation.

    He noted that as a result, marketers could not deliver the cargoes of fuel expected from them because they were not sure of the exact delivery cost due to the devaluation.

    He added that as a result of the measure, the old template used for paying the marketers was no longer useful.

    Ahmed explained that the PPPRA sought the CBN’s advice before it could eventually draw up a new template.

    The crisis, he said, had eventually been resolved as the Budget Office on Monday approved payment for outstanding bills that the marketers are being owed.

    He noted that the matter was resolved after a meeting of the Ministry of Finance, the PPPRA and other agencies.

    Ahmed said:  ”The recent events have to do with the delay in the arrival of cargoes. Non-arrival of cargoes made it difficult for petroleum motor spirit (PMS) to be delivered. What actually complicated it was the devaluation of naira – two times. The first one that took place on November 28 devalued Naira from N155 to N168 to $1. The second one that took place on February 18 brought the exchange rate to N199 to $1.

    “These two developments brought a lot of confusion into the oil sector. Marketers were not sure of the actual delivery cost. We had to draw a new template as advised by the CBN. The delay we have now is caused by the November devaluation. But the reality is that the policy is clear now. The Minister of Finance, PPPRA and other agencies are working closely to ensure that outstanding bills are paid. And that one had been done now. Yesterday, (Monday) we got an approval from the Budget Office for payment of all outstanding bills. We have adjusted the template now. We have to put the exchange rate at the interbank rate. Now, we have a direction.”

    The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) failed to appear before the committee to give its own account on the fuel scarcity.

    The NNPC chiefs’ absence to appear prompted Committee Chairman Senator Magnus Abe to say: “We invited the NNPC to come and defend their budget, they didn’t show up. They don’t even have the respect to give any response to the invitation. We are directing the clerk to re-invite the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Pipeline Product and Marketing Company (PPMC) and all refineries.

    “All of them must appear before this committee on Thursday. All of us have our roles in the Constitution. The letter should contain a strong warning that NNPC must never repeat this before the committee.

    “NNPC has never agreed to bring their budget for discussion. This is the same problem we have every year. I’m disappointed that after we agreed on this issue last year, we are still back to it.”

    A member of the committee, Senator Danjuma Goje, said it was ridiculous that the NNPC still had the audacity to ignore the committee’s invitation in spite of  ”this acute shortage we have throughout this country.”

    “ We know that NNPC has been spending money without appropriation. But then, courtesy demands that they honour our invitation. They are doing their work. We are also doing ours. With all the sad story of NNPC, they still have the guts to treat us with disrespect,” Goje said.

  • APC: theft of $12b gas fund, subsidy debts caused fuel scarcity

    APC: theft of $12b gas fund, subsidy debts caused fuel scarcity

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has blamed the  fuel scarcity on the alleged looting of the $12 billion domestic gas fund  and President Goodluck Jonathan’s  failure to pay fuel subsidy.

    It said lack of payment of subsidy and cost of interests on bank loans has made it impossible for marketers   to import refined petroleum products.

    In a statement in Dubai yesterday, its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Jonathan administration decided to divert attention from those problems by accusing the opposition of being responsible for the scarcity.

    The party described the accusation as “a most laughable and irresponsible by a sitting government that always so eager to blame everyone, but itself for the nation’s woes”.

    It noted that the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had, in February, promised to pay the N264 billion owed to the marketers as subsidy along with the accrued interest.

    APC noted that the failure to meet this obligation has made it impossible for the oil marketers to finance another round of products importation.

    The party said: ‘’The truth is that this profligate government has run Nigeria aground, and the oil sector, whether upstream or downstream, has particularly suffered hugely. The quantity of petroleum products that was imported has almost been fully consumed, without fresh products being brought in to augment supplies that have now fallen well below re-order level

    ‘’The implication is that in addition to worsening power supply, crumbling prices of oil at the international market, weakening Naira and unprecedented corruption. Nigerians, who routinely provide their own electricity to power their homes and business, now have to face another round of government-imposed hardship with the ongoing fuel scarcity.”

    It said the fuel crisis would not have reached the stage it was had the $12 billion domestic gas project fund not been looted under President Jonathan’s watch.

    “This is because, with the project being executed, many vehicles, cooking stoves and generators would have been converted to use gas to reduce the importation of PMS, diesel and kerosene; and gas would have been available to fire the gas turbines at power stations while more power would have been delivered to the national grid,” it alleged.

    APC accused President Jonathan of sabotaging the domestic gas project started by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, with the $12 billion cash call provisions for gas development for domestic power generation, which the party alleged was looted under President Jonathan’s watch.

    “Late President Yar’Adua made the first allocation of $1.5 billion for this project in 2009. The amount was not spent at the time of his death in 2010. However, direct outlays through annual cash calls continued to be credited to the project account so much so that by December 2014, $12 billion had been accumulated in the same account.

    “Had this project been successfully implemented as envisaged, had the funds made available for the project not been looted by the cabal that is holding Nigeria by the jugular, power generation would have improved with uninterrupted gas supply to power the turbines at power station, while the domestic consumption of PMS, diesel and kerosene would have reduced, with an increasing number of vehicles, cooking stoves and power generators being converted to use gas instead of PMS, diesel or kerosene,’’ the party said:

    It also criticised the Jonathan Administration “for its inability or unwillingness or both to secure power installations from contrived sabotage”.

    “For a Federal Government that is in control of one million people under arms (military, police, civil defence corps, etc), and one that has spent in excess of N4 trillion on security, there is no justifiable reason why power installations could not be secured against sabotage,’’ APC said.

    The party said the real saboteurs and those who have pushed Nigeria to another sorry state of fuel scarcity were those who have stolen the money earmarked for gas gathering, processing and transportation for domestic power production, saying: “Nigerians know who and where those people are”.

    It said Nigerians must be wondering whether those who accused the APC of being behind the fuel shortage had their heads properly screwed to their bodies, because the accusation marked a new low in the sad saga of the Jonathan Administration.

    ‘’They (Nigerians) must be wondering when the APC took over the running of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), when the APC took charge of subsidy payment and why the opposition should become the easy scapegoat of an ineffectual, clueless, incompetent, visionless and thieving government. Absurdity has no other meaning,” APC said.

  • Naira devaluation caused fuel scarcity – PPPRA

    Naira devaluation caused fuel scarcity – PPPRA

    The Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on Tuesday claimed that the ongoing fuel scarcity being experienced in parts of the country was caused by the two rounds of naira devaluation carried out by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    PPPRA said the devaluation was carried out by the CBN between November 2014 and February 2015.

    The Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, stated this while defending his agency’s 2015 budget before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream).

    Ahmed told the committee that the devaluation caused huge confusion in the oil sector as his agency did not know the exchange rate to be used for payment on fuel importation.

    He noted that as a result, marketers could not deliver the cargoes of fuel expected from them because they were not sure of the exact delivery cost due to the devaluation.

    He added that as a result of the CBN measure, the old template used for paying the marketers was no longer useful.

    Ahmed explained that PPPRA had to seek the advice of the CBN before it could eventually draw up a new template.

    The crisis, he said, had eventually been resolved as the Budget Office on Monday approved payment for outstanding bills owed the marketers.

    He noted that situation was resolved after a meeting of the Ministry of Finance, PPPRA and other relevant agencies.

    He said, “The recent events have to do with delay in the arrival of cargoes. Non-arrival of cargoes made it difficult for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to be delivered. What actually complicated it was the devaluation of naira – two times. The first one that took place on November 28, 2014 when Naira was devalued from N155 to N168 to $1. The second one that took place on February 18 brought the exchange rate to N199 to $1.

    “These two developments brought a lot of confusion into the oil sector. Marketers were not sure of the actual delivery cost. We had to draw a new template as advised by the CBN. The delay we have now is caused by the November devaluation. But the reality is that the policy is clear now. The Minister of Finance, PPPRA and other agencies are working closely to ensure that outstanding bills are paid. And that one had been done now. On Monday, we got an approval from the Budget Office for payment of all outstanding bills. We have adjusted the template now. We have to put the exchange rate at the interbank rate. Now, we have a direction.”

     

  • APC, PDP row over fuel scarcity

    APC, PDP row over fuel scarcity

    Fuel scarcity persisted yesterday across the major cities as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) battled to stem the worrisome tide.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) blamed it all on the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which described the call as “totally unconscionable and, indeed, an admission of failure”.

    Most of the petrol stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were shut.

    The queue at the NNPC mega station on Olusegun Obasanjo Way  stretched over two kilometres.

    The Oando Petrol Station on the same way was shut. The Total Petrol Station near the Customs Headquarters was besieged. The row of vehicles blocked half of the road from Customs to Wuse market.

    The Total Petrol Station opposite the NNPC was closed. The Conoil station beside it had a queue from  Bolingo Hotel Road and Wuse Market Road. Black marketers sold 10 litres for N3,000.

    Fuel queues became more pronounced yesterday within the Lagos metropolis.

    There were queues everywhere in the commercial capital where petrol sold for between N97 and N110. In some places, a litre was sold for between N140 and N150.

    At the MRS filling station in Lambe, Akute on the outskirt of the city, a litre of  petrol was sold for N147. An official of an Oando retail outlet in Mushin, Olorunsogo, on Lagos Mainland, said most marketers were selling from their old stock as they had not been loading.

    Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) spokesman Babatunde Oke said the body had advocated for improvement in operations to prevent scarcity. He said petroleum scarcity would continue until Nigeria grows the downstream sector.

    The NNPC has given two ships laden with 40 million petrol (premium motor spirit) to Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) members and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) 18 million litres for distribution as short term measure to tackle the scarcity.

    The Nation learnt that the 18 million litres for the IPMAN were supplied to the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCo Plc) and Aiteo Marketing, members of MOMAN, after a meeting yesterday agreed to tackle the supply challenge and make petrol available before weekend.

    MOMAN Executive Secretary Mr. Obafemi Olawore told The Nation that they (marketers) took delivery of the supplies from the NNPC yesterday and promised that from today the queues would ease in Lagos.

    He said the Abuja situation would start to improve from Thursday because of bridging time. The product is being supplied from Lagos and will be trucked to Abuja, Olawore said.

    Olawore said the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reassured members of MOMAN that subsidy payment for outstanding imports, which is N264 billion, will start this week.

    IPMAN President Chief Chinedu Okoronkwo said the government promised to pay its members, adding that depots owned by IPMAN members were selling fuel.

    Okoronkwo said: “There is fuel now, but as usual the ripple of one day scarcity can last for many days. The current upset in distribution will take some days to normalise. The current economic recession is a global thing and the continued drop of the naira to the dollar is a factor to the supply problem but all these have been discussed and taken care of. Everything will normalise very soon.”

  • APC berates Jonathan on Fuel scarcity, drop in power supply

    APC berates Jonathan on Fuel scarcity, drop in power supply

    The APC Presidential Campaign Organization (APCPCO) had described the sudden emergence of fuel queues in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and some parts of the country and the reduction in the hours of electricity supply to Nigerians as a sad reminders of the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Federal Government.
    In a statement signed its spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu on Sunday, the party said that the glaring and inexcusable failure of the PDP government on these two important areas is a sign of gross ineptitude, maladministration and corruption which is responsible for the sorry economic state the average citizen of Nigeria has found themselves.
    It wondered how a political party which has been in power for 16 years and which is unable to ensure that its citizens enjoy regular fuel supply being an oil producing and endowed country and electricity having privatized the power sector and given generous financial assistance to operators of the power sector can still feel confident to seek another term in office.
    “For the people of Nigeria to be again confronted with the specter of fuel scarcity so soon after the harrowing experience of last Christmas period shows that the Jonathan government can never get anything right as Nigeria will continue to be an embarrassment among the oil producing countries of the world.
    “The issue is that being unable to set up even one new refinery in the past five years and unable to get existing refineries to function up to 50 per cent capacity, the people of Nigeria surely need another set of people to be in charge of affairs.
    “Those who man the two critical sectors of fuel and power are cronies of President Jonathan and supporters of the PDP that they have no reason to discharge their mandate in favour of the Nigerian people.
    “We all remember the hype and fanfare with which the privatization of the power sector was carried out and yet majority of Nigerians are having less electric power or none at all but are forced to pay outrageous electricity bills to the operators of the power companies who are either card-carrying members of the PDP or are close associates of President Jonathan.
    “To add insult to injury, the Jonathan government has also given billions of naira to these operators under the guise of assisting them to improve power supply, without result. And this happened after the sector had been sold and the facilities handed over to these private operators”
    The APC demanded that the Jonathan government and his party should explain to Nigerians the reason why fuel scarcity and blackout should persist making life a hell for Nigerians, despite huge investments and policies put in place to eradicate these problems.

  • Fuel scarcity bites harder in Benin

    Price of fuel in Benin City, Edo State, skyrocketed on Monday, hitting N250 per litre in the black market.

    Apart from a petrol station owned by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation where fuel was sold at N97, other fuel stations operated by independent marketers sold fuel for as much as N200 per litre.

    There were long queues at the few petrol stations where the product was sold within Benin City metropolis.

    Reports from other parts of the state showed that fuel was available in areas such as Auchi, Ekpoma and other towns.

     

  • Fuel scarcity hits Port Harcourt

    Fuel scarcity hits Port Harcourt

    •Residents resort to trekking

    Many residents of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, have resorted to trekking as fuel scarcity hits the town.

    The scarcity has forced some commercial vehicles off the road as many drivers complained that they cannot afford the N150 or N250 per litre.

    This has led to an increase in transport fares; the fare from Slaughter to Amadi-Ama Roundabout which cost N50 is now N100; from Slaughter to Mother-cat Junction is now N100 instead of N50, same for Waterlines to Rumuola on Aba Road.

    From Rumuola to Rumukoro by taxi is now N150 instead of N100; Rumuola to Abali Park is now N100 instead of N50. From Mile One Diobu to Rumuokoro, which hitherto was N100 by bus is now N150 while from Mile Three to Rukpokwu which used to be N100 is now N200.

    The fare from Eneka to Aba Express road/Eleme junction has risen from N100 to N150; Rumuokoro to Rumuaghalo is now N100 instead of N50.

    Transport fare from Port Harcourt to Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, which used to be between N800 and N1000, is now between N1,300 to N1500 while Port Harcourt to Calabar is now N2,500 instead of N1,500.

    A woman, Mrs Uche Abam, said she trekked from her house at Ogbunabali to Traffic Light area on Aba Road to buy 10 litres of petrol at N2,500.

    Ekpeyong Akwaowo, an employee of an oil servicing company in Port Harcourt, said he bought a litre of fuel for N150 from a filling station on the East West Road.

  • DPR says pressure from neighbouring states cause of fuel scarcity in Abuja

    DPR says pressure from neighbouring states cause of fuel scarcity in Abuja

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has attributed the prevailing fuel scarcity in Abuja to pressure from motorists in the neighbouring states.

    The Abuja DPR Zonal Controller, Mr Aliyu Halidu, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja at the weekend.

    Halidu, who was reacting to recurrence of petrol scarcity in Abuja and its environs, said that there was enough supply to take care of the need of motorists in the nation’s capital city.

    The controller, who said Abuja receives up to 120 trucks of fuel daily, said ordinarily, 100 trucks of petroleum products was supposed to serve the city without any problem.

    While noting with concern that in spite of the availability of fuel in the city, there were still queues in filling stations, Halidu said the influx of motorists from neighbouring states was compounding the fuel scarcity problem.

    According to him, most motorists in the neighbouring states come to Abuja to buy fuel because of the availability of the products.

    “The supply to Abuja fluctuates between 80 and 120 trucks per day.

    “Also, why we have queues even if we have 120 trucks in Abuja is because the environs are not being served and they are dried.

    “If anybody comes to Abuja, the tendency is there to say look let me fuel my car before I go back.

    “Those coming from Niger, Nasarawa and Kogi congregate here to take fuel.

    “There are commercial vehicles that come with dry tank and they fill their tanks here before they go back,” he said.

    Another contributing factor, according to him, is the stable pump price in Abuja, which he attributed to the effective and efficient monitoring measure put in place by the agency.

    Halidu explained that the agency most often prevent the marketers from hoarding and diverting the products, stressing that there were times the agency would force them to sell to motorists.

    According to him, the agency at times does routine checking to ensure that the products released are discharged at the stations.

    He said that in addition to ensuring that products were being sold at official pump price, the DPR also tried to make sure that stations sold with maximum number of pumps.

    “We also work on Saturdays and Sundays because we don’t want any problem in the city,” he said.

    Halidu therefore warned marketers against hoarding of products because DPR surveillance teams were on ground, stressing that appropriate sanctions would be meted out to offending marketers.

    NAN reports that queues became noticeable again in some petrol filling stations in Abuja and its environs during the week.

    Investigations revealed that although motorists queued for hours to buy fuel, vendors were getting fuel at ease to sell at parallel market rates.

    The vendors operated with jerry cans in the precincts of most of the filling stations that had fuel.

    The fuel vendors were making brisk businesses selling the product at exorbitant prices by the road sides.

    They sell 10 litres for between N2, 000 and N2, 500 as against N970 at N97 per litre.

  • SSS summons PPMC, NUPENG over fuel scarcity

    Following the lingering fuel scarcity in the country, the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) Thursday summoned the Managing Director, Pipeline , Product Marketing Company (PPMC) Prince Haruna Momoh and the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) with a viewing to resolving the  leadership crisis in Independent Marketers Association Nigeria (IPMAN), it was learnt Friday.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja, the NUPENG President, Comrade Igwe Achise, said that due to the SSS intervention, there is a high hope of resolving the crisis between now and Tuesday.

    Igwe however noted that NUPENG is not on strike.

    He confirmed that “after the intervention of the MD of PPMC, the Directorate of Security Service (DSS)- DG SSS and we have been able to look at these issues critically again, where we have been assured that the lingering crisis in IPMAN will be given the utmost emergency attention needed to resolve those leadership issues as soon as possible and we are believing that between now,  Monday, Tuesday, this issue of the leadership will be resolved.

    “We have also read through the media that Aminu the former president has finally moved out of office and decided to go and form an association that does not have bearing with the judgement given by competent court of jurisdiction.”

    He explained that the crisis in IPMAN was due to the movement by the outgoing President Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir to continue staying in office despite a court judgement that has pronounced the emergence of his successor.

    According to him,  the union withdrew its services from the Nigeria Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) because its owners  Independent IPMAN were involved in fraudulent demand for fuel subsidy claim.

    He noted that: “If that crisis persists, there is no need we keep our services in NIPCO since IPMAN is the  major owner of the investment of the commercial out fit. I think that will be a big way of addressing these challenges.”

    Asked whether NUPENG cannot sanction IPMAN for the allegedly insisting on collecting fuel subsidy money without supply, Achise said :”NIPCO example is part of those sanctions we can take in withdrawing our services from the depot if found that they are having some fraudulent activities at the ongoing in their environment . The allegation is true.”

    Commenting on why it is scarce, the NUPENG boss explained that in as much as petroleum products are imported, products are bound to be scarce.

    He revealed that since the refineries are not functioning, the the nation is at the mercy of the marketers, who also own the private depots to whom the Federal Government has assigned to import petroleum products.

    His words: “Petroleum products are scarce because  Nigeria is still depending majorly on importation of petroleum products. And that importation is mortgaged into the hands of marketers, who are also private depot owners and importers. Our refineries are not  functioning. They are epileptic in production and that cannot sustain this country. And that is why we find ourselves were we are today in term of the scarcity.”

    Asked whether deregulation of the refineries is not the best option, Achise said that to deregulate the downstream of the oil and gas sector is a must.

    He however added a caveat, that the Federal Government would not be fair to the citizenry to deregulate the sector with reliance on fuel importation.

    According to him, “what is affecting our refineries today is because of the system that is surrounding the refinery operations.”

    Continuing, he said “we need to do a turn around maintenance of the refineries for us to make it work effectively. The Port-Harcourt Refineries we  agreed on this last year with the Ministry of Petroleum. It failed. The next one, he said by first quarter of next year picked up. First quarter has gone and it has gone. So, must we continue to remain in this kind of shadow?”

  • Why fuel scarcity may linger, by marketers  

    The current scarcity of fuel across the country may continue for a while longer except the leadership crisis rocking the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) is immediately resolved, marketers in the Eastern zone warned yesterday.

    Arising from an emergency meeting yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital yesterday, the leadership and members of IPMAN Eastern zone, said allowing the National Executive Council led by Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir to give the association the much needed direction is the first step in resolving the fuel scarcity.

    Briefing The Nation on the outcome of the meeting called to discuss the lingering fuel crisis and the crisis within IPMAN, Chief Ezekwesili Maduagwuna, said the Eastern zone has passed a vote of confidence on the Abdulkadir- led executive.

    He warned that the crisis fuelled by some disgruntled elements may trigger fresh fuel scarcity if the association, especially the other zones failed to play their role.

    He added that the Eastern Zone of IPMAN is putting everything in place to maintain the cordial relationship between the marketers and the National Executive Council to ensure quick resolution of all factors responsible for the scarcity of fuel across the country.

    Maduagwuna said: “The members of the Independence Marketers Association of Nigeria, Eastern Zone has passed a vote of confidence on the National Executive Council of IPMAN led by Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir.

    “We did this because we cannot continue to allow some individuals to give IPMAN bad names. I think other zones should emulate us and support the present leadership to avoid fresh fuel scarcity in the country”.

    He called on the marketers to make product available at all cost while waiting for the resolution of all issues.