Business

Marketers Predict Six-month Fuel Scarcity, Prices Rise

Published

3 years ago

January 12, 2023

The supply hitches associated with the distribution of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, may persist till June this year, oil marketers stated on Wednesday.

Nigeria’s downstream oil sector has been grappling with cases of incessant petrol scarcity since last year.

The sole importer of the commodity – Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, has repeatedly complained of the enormous burden of shouldering fuel subsidy for the country.

On Monday, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said NNPC was selling petrol at a loss because of its mandate from the Federal Government as regards fuel subsidy.

“If you are a businessman, look at it from this perspective, that you are now in the business where you are mandated to sell at a loss to the public. That is not an easy job, I must tell you,” the minister stated.

Last week, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said the Federal Government had budgeted about N3.6tn for fuel subsidy till June 2023.

Reacting to the development, oil marketers stated on Wednesday that the fuel supply crisis in many parts of the country that often leads to fuel scarcity, might persist till June, based on the government’s plan to end petrol subsidy in that month.

The National Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, told our correspondent that fuel imports and subsidy were making Nigerians suffer.

He said, “This issue of subsidy and the importation of petroleum products are the major reasons why we are suffering like this and having epileptic supply of PMS. This may drag till the current administration leaves in May or till June this year.

“The exchange rate is affecting fuel imports, which is also why the cost of petroleum products are high. We use too much naira to chase the few dollars that are available. So the solution is for us to refine our crude here and get our depots working.”

He added, “Also, we should note that most times when an administration is leaving, there is usually scarcity of products. It happened during the time of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“This is because suppliers will be very weary of selling petroleum products so that their debts will not be carried over to the next administration. Successive governments have suffered this epileptic distribution of petroleum products during transition to a new government.

“The government is winding up, and if you are a supplier you have to be careful in terms of supplying petroleum products. Remember that when Jonathan was there, marketers who were supplying products stopped and went on strike, demanding that they must be paid their arrears.”

The President, Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, also stated that the availability of petrol for marketers to distribute had remained an issue of concern.

“Let there be products to sell. That is what we are yearning for. Once that problem is sorted, then others shall be addressed too,” he stated.

Commenting on the issue, a former President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, Dr. Sam Nzekwe, told our correspondent that the crisis in the downstream oil sector would be best addressed when Nigeria’s refineries become functional.

IPMAN complains

The Chairman, IPMAN Satellite depot, Akin Akinrinade, told The PUNCH that its members were yet to take delivery of any product from the state oil firm.

He said, “We have yet to see anything. They promised us something in December, but now they said January. All they’ve done is ask us to submit names and change from the old system-NNPC Express to NNPC Retail. Other than that, we are yet to receive any product.

“But I can assure you that this scarcity will continue well after June if NNPCL does not supply us products directly and at regulated price.”

Akinrinade also said the price of fuel had hit between N222/N225 at private depots as of last Friday.

National Operations Controller, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, also told The PUNCH that his members were yet to get any product from the NNPCL.

“We are still waiting. We will wait until the middle of this month before we react. But as of last week, our members buy fuel above N200 per litre. But information reaching me is that as of today, the price has increased to N230 per litre, without transportation and other expenses”, he said.

In December, Osatuyi had told The PUNCH that his members were holding strategic meetings with the new NNPCL Retail Managing Director, Hubb Stockman, who promised to supply them products directly at government regulated price of N148/litre starting from this month.

However, members of the association, according to Osatuyi and Akinrinnade, were yet to receive any products despite having compiled necessary lists, and switching from the old NNPCL Express platform, to the NNPCL Retail as directed by Stockman.

The PUNCH reached out to the Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, on why some of its members did not have products.

He had yet to respond as of the time of filing this report.

However, a top member of the MOMAN who claimed anonymity told The PUNCH, that although the scarcity had eased, some of its stations currently do not have supplies.

“The scarcity has eased and things have gone back to normal. No queues and our stations sell at normal regulated prices. However, some of our stations who don’t have supplies will be supplied”, he told The PUNCH.

The spokesperson for the Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, Adewole Olufemi, said the depots were in need of more fuel supplies from the NNPCL.

“Until and unless the queues are completely eliminated, we’ll require more volume than usual, DAPPMAN cannot be satisfied. We’re working with the sole supplier, NNPC Ltd and the regulator to ensure PMS is available nationwide”, he said regarding the scarcity.

On skyrocketing ex-depot’s prices, Adewole said just like the NNPCL, depot owners were also on a recover-all-cost regime.

“Costs incurred by marketers, vessel chartering, trucking and approved margins will be recovered just as NNPC Ltd does to recover its cost inputs”, he added.

The spokesperson for NNPCL, Garba Deen, could not be reached on his official line for his comment.
PUNCH

Business

Naira Continues To Appreciate Against Dollar On Official Market

Published

1 day ago

August 1, 2025

Editor

The naira continued its appreciation against the dollar at the foreign exchange market on Tuesday.

Accordingly, the naira strengthened further to N1,533.18 against the dollar on Tuesday, from N1,534.21 traded the previous day.

This represents a gain of N1.03 against the dollar on a day-to-day basis and marks the second consecutive day of appreciation at the official FX market.

Meanwhile, on the black market, the naira depreciated further to N1,545 per dollar on Tuesday from N1,537 traded on Monday.

Recall that the naira had similarly closed Monday’s trading session with mixed sentiments, recording gains at the official market but depreciating at the parallel market.

Business

Dangote Refinery Gets New CEO

Published

1 day ago

August 1, 2025

Editor

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has appointed David Bird, the former head of Oman’s Duqm Refinery, as its new Chief Executive Officer.

A report by S&P global on Friday said, Bird heads the refinery’s petroleum and petrochemicals division in a strategic move to overcome production challenges and advance its next wave of expansion.

Effective from July 2025, the former Shell head of operations at its Balau Pokom refinery stepped in as CEO of the Dangote Group’s fuels and petrochemicals business, which commissioned the world’s largest single-train refinery last year.

Our correspondent also observed that the CEO participated at the just concluded Dangote Leadership Development Program Graduation Ceremony.

The appointment signals the company’s renewed focus on scaling production, streamlining operations, and positioning itself as a dominant force in Africa’s refining and petrochemical landscape.

The report read, “Nigeria’s Dangote Group has appointed the former head of Oman’s Duqm refinery as CEO of its petroleum and petrochemicals business as it strives to overcome production challenges and advance its next wave of expansion.”

It, however, noted that the Dangote Group founder Aliko Dangote, will remain as chairman of the refining business and CEO of the wider conglomerate, which is also active in cement, fertilizers and sugar refining.

The business is expected to tap Bird’s experience expanding the Duqm refinery and diversifying its crude slate as CEO of OQ8, a role he adopted months before the Omani complex began its first test runs in 2023.

Commenting on his appointment, Bird said his focus at Dangote will involve advancing the group’s footprint beyond the Nigerian market and across the African continent.

As CEO of the refining business, he will be responsible for ensuring maximum output and efficiency for the refinery, and aims to make the group a leader in the global market, a LinkedIn update noted.

The appointment comes after a string of unit upsets and “design issues” that have stalled the ramp-up process of the 650,000-b/d refinery, while its leadership has called out a hostile business environment for challenging its operations.

Since it was commissioned in January 2024, Dangote has quickly grown its market share in the Nigerian fuel sector, displacing large volumes of gasoline imports that the country once relied on.

However, Aliko Dangote has railed against “rent-seeking” trade partners and substandard fuel imports for putting strain on the business.

In a previous interview with Platts, Bird emphasised a trading-led approach to achieve a competitive edge in the refining sector, with a focus on high utilisation rates, efficiency and feedstock flexibility.

His approach aligns with a recent shift from the Dangote complex to process a wider range of crude grades, partially spurred by limited availability of the Nigerian oil it was designed to process.

However, the Nigerian refinery is still obliged to sell fixed volumes of its oil products into the domestic crude market under a naira-based trade agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, a 7.2 per cent stakeholder in the business.

As the Dangote Group eyes its next wave of growth, it plans to expand the capacity of the Lagos refinery to 700,000 barrels per day, build out port infrastructure and establish foreign storage assets in Namibia and other countries.

In August, it is set to roll out its own distribution business with a fleet of 4,000 CNG-powered trucks.

Dangote Group officials have also shared ambitions to list the refining business on the London and Lagos stock exchanges, and Aliko Dangote reiterated plans to take the business public.

After years of setbacks and budget challenges, the speed of the refinery’s ramp-up in 2024 caught many analysts by surprise, and the complex quickly began exerting pressure on global oil benchmarks as it began exporting its products.

Yet despite beginning test runs on its main gasoline outlet, the residue fluid catalytic cracker, in Q3 2024, the company has since suffered repeated outages on the unit in 2025, forcing it to rely on its lower-yield reformer and sacrifice output over extended periods.

Speaking to Platts earlier in July, a Dangote executive said the RFCC was running at 85 per cent. He denied reports that the company will undergo a planned turnaround on the unit in December.

According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data, Nigeria exported some 220,000 b/d of petroleum products in July 2025, when outages at NNPC facilities made Dangote the country’s only active refiner.

The complex exported 30,000 b/d of residual fuel, a refining byproduct which would normally be kept on site for further processing in the RFCC under normal operations.

Exports continue to be dominated by jet fuel, which accounted for 45 per cent of total shipments, and gasoil with a 24 per cent share.

Business

Petrol Tankers To Stop Loading Beyond 45,000 Litres By October 1 – IPMAN

Published

1 day ago

August 1, 2025

Editor

The Western Zone of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has said tankers will no longer load more than 45,000 litres of the product from October 1.

The Chairman of the zone, Chief Oyewole Akanni, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Ibadan on Friday.

Akanni stated that the measure was adopted in a joint meeting involving IPMAN, the government and other stakeholders, held to reduce the cases of petroleum tanker accidents.

The stakeholders, he said, are the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and oil marketers.

He said, “Before now, some tankers carried up to 90,000 or 60,000 litres, which was dangerous.

“Those big tankers damage our roads, as the trucks are made to carry far more than they were designed for.

“And when overloaded, they become unstable and fall, causing accidents.”

Akanni stated that the government had also mandated all tankers to install safety covers that prevent spillage in the event of a crash.

“With these covers, even if a tanker falls, fuel won’t spill, except if the tank is punctured,” he said.

He, however, lamented the activities of vandals, who deliberately puncture fallen tankers to steal fuel, describing it as a major challenge.

The IPMAN chairman also said that PTD discovered that most accidents occurred at night due to fatigue.

“We have, therefore, instructed drivers not to drive at night.

“Once it is 7.00 p.m., they must park and continue their journey by 7.00 a.m. the next day, but some still disobey this directive,” he said.

Akanni assured that IPMAN would continue to work with stakeholders to ensure that tanker-related accidents were minimised.

He said that the spate of fatalities had triggered federal interventions, calling for stricter regulations, mass education, and enforced safety reforms.

According to Akanni, the incidents form part of a broader wave of tanker disasters across Nigeria.

“These are marked by systemic failures, including overloading, poor infrastructure, inadequate enforcement, alongside dangerous public practices like fuel scooping,” he said.

NAN