Kerosene scarcity may worsen, supply drops by 66.6%

The scarcity of Dual Purpose Kerosene across the country may worsen from this week as the daily supply of the product has dropped by 66.6 per cent, investigation by our correspondents has shown.

It was learnt on Monday that while the daily national demand for the product remained at 12 million metric litres, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was currently releasing, through the marketers, only about four million metric litres for distribution to filling stations nationwide.

The NNPC is the sole importer of the product, which the Federal Government is subsidising to enable end users to buy at the official rate of N50 per litre.

But the product, which sold for about N70 a litre for most part of last year, is now being sold for between N140 and N170 per litre, depending on the location.

Apart from the rising price of kerosene, which many households depend on for their cooking and other domestic chores, many consumers still travel several kilometres to buy it.

An official of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, who requested not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, told one of our correspondents on Monday that the daily supply from the NNPC had dropped from 12 million litres to four million litres.

He said that NNPC was releasing the product to NIPCO Plc, a key operator in the downstream sector, which in turn was distributing it to the marketers.

An assessment of the quantity imported through the shipping position table obtained from the Nigerian Ports Authority showed that only three out of the 35 vessels expected in April carried kerosene, 22 vessels carried petrol, six vessels, diesel; and four vessels, aviation fuel; otherwise known as Jet A1.

A May edition of the table showed that out of 46 vessels laden with petroleum products, 25 vessels had petrol, 14 vessels, diesel; five vessels, Jet A1; and only two vessels had kerosene.

The major marketers and the NNPC have, however, disagreed on the causes of the prolonged scarcity of the product, with each of the parties blaming the other as being responsible for the debacle.

One of the marketers said only the NNPC was controlling the importation of the product and should be held responsible for any shortfall in the supply.

He said that the shortage in supply had paved the way for people to bring in the product through unauthorised sources, which had resulted in the product being sold at exorbitant price to desperate users.

He said, “We cannot import and sell at a loss because the government is subsidising its supply. It is only when deregulated that everybody will be free to import and sell at the market rate.”

The Group General Manager, Public Affairs, NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, said major and independent marketers were to blame for the scarcity and hike in the price of kerosene.

He said that the major and independent marketers were regularly supplied with kerosene, which was available in large quantity at the NNPC mega filling stations and sold at a very cheap price.

Meanwhile, the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, has promised an increase in the quantity of kerosene supplied to the corporation’s mega stations as a way of ameliorating the biting scarcity being experienced in all parts of the country.

Oniwon, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Abuja during a golf tournament to mark his 60th birthday, also said that the Department of Petroleum Resources was in a better position to explain why the product was not getting to the end users.

He said, “I have always made it clear from time to time that we have enough kerosene to meet the people’s need. We have enough to last more than 30 days. We have been making adequate supply. We stop at bulk supply but the DPR is supposed to ensure that the product gets to the filling stations.

“What we have decided to do now is to increase the quantity we supply to our mega stations so that people can go there and buy quality product at a cheaper price.”