Oil marketers in Nigeria have accredited the current fuel scarcity in the country to diddling logistics challenges.
This revelation came barely 24 hours after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL mentioned the same challenge on Sunday.
The president of Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry made this known in an interview.
According to Gillis-Harry, oil marketers were currently supply-constrained, adding that they could only distribute what they have.
Gillis-Harry said: “I think until we get our supply challenges sorted out efficiently and abundantly, we will not be able to get out of this circle.
“I believe you must have heard the NNPC’s communications director who explained that the issues at stake are still logistics-related.
“So until they get that resolved, we may just be managing the little they bring, and give to us to distribute among our members.
“NNPCL is doing its best to bring in products bit by bit, and we can only supply what we have.”
Speaking on what the logistics challenges were, he explained that it is about ship-to-ship transfer, stressing that until the ship gets products, its delivery to depots is unattainable.
He said: “The logistics issue is about ship-to-ship transfer. Until the ship gets products, it cannot deliver to any of the depots. And until depots have products, we the retailers cannot also have access to products,”
While assuring that marketers were in dialogue with the NNPCL over supply challenges, he gave accolades to the body, adding that they are trying their best.
Recall that a litre of the product now sells for between N800 and N1,000 in some filling stations, a move that increased the cost of transportation.
Some filling stations were, however, not selling the product as black-market racketeers took advantage of the situation to do brisk business.
