28th August
By Bassey Udo,Energy Editor

The scarcity has already pushed up the price of kerosene in most filling stations in Lagos and its environs at the weekend to between N90 and N94 per litre.

Though NNPC officials said there is no scarcity of the commodity, as there is sufficient stock to last at least three months, an official of the Nigerian Independent Petroleum Company (NIPCO) Plc, managers of IPMAN petroleum products depot in Apapa, told Daily Independent that top officials of the corporation should be held responsible for the crisis

But an official of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) said in a telephone interview that the marketers’ claims are untrue and baseless.

He disclosed that apart from kerosene being refined locally from the Port Harcourt Refinery, NNPC also imports dual-purpose kerosene (DPK) to build a total stock of kerosene available in its depots across the country to between 150,000 and 200,000 metric tons (MT).

Most members of the association, who pleaded anonymity, shared the opinion of their colleague that officials of the PPMC do not follow set criteria in the allocation of the product, but do so on the basis of patronage.

"When deregulation of the industry began, NNPC conducted the census of independent and major oil marketers. Based on the result, the NNPC adopted the sharing formula in the ratio 60:40 in favour of the independent marketers. Later, the major marketers protested, demanding a 50:50 formula.

"Even then, NNPC never followed this formula in the allocation of the product. What its top officials do is to allocate products using the Nigerian factor of who delivers the highest patronage to them," the NIPCO official said.

According to the marketers, three weeks ago, the NNPC took delivery of about 58,000 metric tons of kerosene it imported through Jutune vessel and allocated the consignment discretionarily to only four members of the Depot and Petroleum Product Marketers Association (DAPPMA) without any allocation to the independent marketers.

"If NNPC is saying they have sufficient stock of kerosene in all their depots across the country, let them say the last time the commodity was allocated to marketers at either Ejigbo or Ibadan depots.

"For some time now, even some of the oil majors do not have supplies of some prime products like the dual-purpose kerosene (DPK)," they said.

The marketers also denied allegations that the independent marketers often refuse to lift products allocated to them at the depots, preferring the imported blend of DPK, which they always convert to aviation fuel for additional profit.

They said in the last three weeks, most of their members across the country have been queuing for days in Apapa to lift products without success.

They disclosed that the story is the same in Port Harcourt Refinery where the trucks belonging to some members of DAPPMA with connections in the Presidency are allowed to lift products ahead of other marketers.