September 19, 2012 by Stanley Opara
Vehicles queuing for fuel at a filling station.
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Long queues of motorists aiming to buy
petrol were noticed in the few filling stations that had the product to
sell on Tuesday in Lagos, even as the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation and oil marketers confirmed increased loading of tankers at
the Apapa depot.
The management of NNPC had said on
Monday that it had taken measures to end the current fuel scarcity being
witnessed in Lagos and other parts of the country.
Our correspondent learnt that vessels
were currently discharging petrol at Apapa with some marketers declaring
“non-stop loading” following improved supply to the depots. As at 7pm,
AITEO, Capital Oil, and Nipco Plc were confirmed to be loading the
product.
Market sources at Apapa told our
correspondent that all the vessels that berthed there were discharging
petrol, while the NNPC was supplying the product in batches.
But the improved supply did not
translate into significant reduction in the length of queues at fillings
stations in Lagos and environs; as intense discharging and loading
activities started very late in the day.
A top official of the Major Oil
Marketers Association of Nigeria told our correspondent that as at 6pm,
two vessels filled with petrol were discharging simultaneously at Apapa.
He said, “I can confirm to you now that
two vessels are currently discharging. But for the queues, I can’t say
they will disappear tomorrow. That will be a very difficult thing to
say.
“But if things continue the way they are
going now, we hope that by the end of this week, there will be a major
improvement in supply in Lagos and other states. But I must say also
that the NNPC cannot address this challenge. The government just has to
settle with the oil marketers as soon as possible and involve them in
the scheme.”
Another marketer, who confirmed that his
company actually received fresh supplies from the NNPC, said, “The
situation will get better, but not like before unless the System 2B line
is fixed. The demand cannot be met just from what is received from our
terminals here at Apapa.”
Commenting on the development, the
Executive Secretary, Jetties and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria,
Mr. Enoch Kanawa, said, “What we have is not enough. If they said they
had supplied products, then why are there queues? Are products meant to
be consumed at the depots?”
The Acting Group General Manager, Group
Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Fidel Pepple, in a statement on
Monday said the current fuel shortage was due to the shutdown of the
System 2B, a major pipeline that evacuates between nine to 11 million
litres of petrol from Lagos to Ibadan, Ilorin and the North due to
vandalism by oil thieves some weeks ago.
Pepple said to address the problems
resulting from the shutdown of the pipeline, the corporation had stepped
up distribution through tankers.
“I want to assure Nigerians that NNPC
has stepped up fuel supply to marketers and distributors for effective
and efficient supply of fuel to Nigerians. As I speak, we have raised
the daily supply of fuel from the Folawiyo Tank Farm from 150 tankers to
250 tankers; MRS from 100 to 200 tankers; Capital Oil to 300 tankers;
NIPCO to 70 tankers; and AITEO to 100 tankers,” Pepple said.
He further said that fuel delivery and
supply to Port Harcourt, Aba and Calabar had also been augmented and
that bridging to the North had equally enjoyed robust supply.
On the Arepo pipeline seriously damaged
by oil thieves a couple of weeks ago where three NNPC staffers were
killed, Pepple said NNPC was collaborating with security agencies to fix
the pipeline in order to restore normal fuel supply to the affected
areas.
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