Fuel Scarcity: Reps Confirm Availability Of PMS

-Says Normalcy To Return In Few Days

The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources, Downstream and Midstream have said there is availability of petrol products, which have since arrived the country.

They said the supply and distribution to marketers was disrupted by challenges of marine shuttle vessels that was supposed to take the products from offshore to onshore but the logistics challenges have since been addressed and product distribution have commenced and the queues will disappear in matter of days.

Chairmen of both the downstream and midstream committees, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere and Hon. Odianosen Henry Okojie disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on wednesday.

Ugochinyere stated that in the last few days, the downstream and midstream committees reached out to the stakeholders in the distribution value chain; the NNPCL, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and engaged them extensively to ascertaining the cause of the fuel queues.

He expressed concerns over the fuel queues in petrol stations across the country, which has adversely affected the lives and businesses of Nigerians but assured that normalcy will return in a few days.

According to Ugochinyere, from investigations, there is availability of petrol products, at least, about 1.5 billion litres of petrol that can last for 30 days.

He noted that it is as a result of logistics that the queues have resurfaced and these logistic issues range from difficulty in transporting products from the mother vessel to the respective petrol stations.

He assured that the lawmakers have gotten the assurances from the regulators in the value chain that these bottlenecks are being cleared.

He also assured that the committees, which oversights activities in the Downstream and Midstream petroleum sectors, have resolved that going forward and in order to avert the reoccurrence of this temporary challenge of distribution disruption, they shall work with the NNPCL, NMDPRA, PETROAN, NARTO and other key stakeholders in the distribution chain, towards finding a sustainable solution in ensuring that they do not run into such avoidable disruption in the near future, which can hamper economic activities.

“We hereby express our concerns over the temporary presence of fuel queues in petrol stations across the country. This has adversely affected the lives and businesses of Nigerians across the country. As elected representatives of the Nigerian people, we are greatly disturbed by this development.

“However, we are convinced that this is temporary and in a couple of days, we shall get over it. From our investigations, we have found out that there is availability of petrol products. We have on good authority that we have in our storage facilities, at least, about 1.5 billion litres of petrol that can last for 30 days.

“It is however saddening to note that it is as a result of logistics that the queues have resurfaced. These logistic issues range from difficulty in transporting products from the mother vessel to the respective petrol stations. Movement of products from offshore marine vessels to the stations, disruption from Escravos channels.

“We have gotten the assurances from the regulators in the value chain that these bottlenecks are being cleared. In the course of this public holiday, more grounds will be covered.

“At this juncture, we strongly frown at the activities of middlemen who have taken advantage of the short disruption of supply, to maximize profit and generate inordinate gain for themselves, at the detriment of our people”