Tag Archives: Queues

Long Queues At Abuja Petrol Stations Will Soon Disappear- DPR

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The Department of Petroleum Resources has said that fuel queues in Abuja will soon disappear as 3.2 million litres of petrol were released to the city from Suleja Depot on Thursday.

Mohammed Saidu, Zonal spokesperson DPR Abuja, made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.

Saidu said the volume supplied on Thursday would bring fuel supply to the city within two days to 9.3 million litres.

He said that 6.1 million litres of fuel was lifted by marketers from Suleja Depot on Wednesday to meet the demand of motorists in Abuja.

He, however, expressed optimism that the situation would improve before next week.

Saidu warned marketers against hoarding or selling above the official pump price, adding that whosoever was caught defrauding or cheating motorists would face the full wrath of the law.

He said that the DPR would take decisive action against such marketers or filling station owners.

Meanwhile, queues at filling stations have reduced, especially at the NNPC Mega Filling Station on Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Central Area, as well as Conoil and Total filling stations opposite NNPC headquarters.

NAN reports that the major marketing stations mentioned sold products at the official pump price of N87 per litre, while black market operators sold between N120 and N150 per litre.

Credit: NAN

Finance Minister Pays Importers As City Petrol Queues Grow

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Finance ministry has paid importers 156 billion naira ($790 million) to cover subsidy payments owed from 2014, it said on Thursday, seeking to ease fuel shortages in major cities.

Queues at petrol stations have been growing over the last few weeks and worsened in recent days. A neglected refining system means the country is almost wholly reliant on imports for the 40 million litres per day of gasoline it consumes.

The fuel crisis began in early March when slumping oil prices and an impending general election sent the local currency to record lows, hitting importers who have struggled to open letters of credit with banks. Truckers, unable to discharge tankers, went gone on strike over the cash crunch.

The finance ministry issued Sovereign Debt Notes (SDN) to fuel marketers in March, but banks remained reluctant to issue letters of credit until they matured.

“Even though we had the SDNs, they (banks) never had enough confidence. Now that it has been honoured, they can open L/Cs (letters of credit),” Obafemi Olawore, the executive secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) said.

“We didn’t have the money to place orders and pay contractors, like the truckers … who went on strike.”

The post-dated SDNs of 100 billion naira matured on Thursday, an emailed statement from the finance ministry said, along with an additional 56 billion naira in interest to marketers, which is expected to allow importers to complete their deals.

Oil traders said plenty of product was waiting offshore to discharge but payment uncertainties have held it back.

Despite the payment, another 200 billion naira is still outstanding, which includes foreign exchange from 2014 and 2015 and about 40 billion in subsidies accumulated so far in 2015, Olawore said.

Gasoline is heavily subsidised by the government via the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), and outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan’s own efforts to scrap subsidies in early 2012 caused riots. Slow repayment of subsidies has been a problem for the last few years. ($1 = 198.0000 naira)

Reuters