Fuel Scarcity Will Continue Until January 2023 – Marketers

Oil marketers have claimed the current fuel scarcity could affect the Christmas and New Year festivities.

It is also believed oil marketers are now free to sell petrol at any rate, as the Federal Government was no more restraining them from dispensing the commodity at a regulated price.

Fuel queues have continued to appear and disappear since January this year despite the hike in the cost of the commodity by oil marketers without any approval from the Federal Government or sanctions imposed on them.

Rather than speak on the matter, the Federal Government, through its Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, chose to remain mute.

READ ALSO: Nancy Isime’s New Backside Sparks Commotion On Social Media

Similarly, the sole importer of PMS into the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, has refused to make any comment on the development.

The NMDPRA, in its report on product sufficiency on Thursday, however, claimed that there was 33.17-day sufficiency of PMS in the country as of November 24, 2022. It also stated that about 2.1 billion litres of petrol was in stock despite the widespread queues nationwide.

But oil marketers countered the government as they argued that there had been concerns around logistics and the supply of products by the national oil company and sole importer.

They also stated that some new charges had been introduced in the downstream oil sector, which had given rise to a hike in the ex-depot price of petrol, adding that all these concerns could further make the current fuel queues to linger beyond December.