The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) is working with the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. to improve petrol distribution across the country.

Clement Isong, chief executive Officer of MOMAN, said this in an interview in Lagos on Saturday following the current scarcity of petrol and long queues at filling stations.

Mr Isong said the association had been holding a daily logistic emergency meeting with the downstream management of NNPCL on improving the supply of petrol.

“We are doing depot-to-depot check-in and check-out to enhance efficiency, also having logistic supply meetings with NNPCL.

“There is also collaboration among our members to cushion supply to various MOMAN’s stations.

“We arranged it in a way that any MOMAN member who does not have product can pick from fellow members’ depot to minimise supply gaps,” he said.

Mr Isong also said the effort was to improve the supply of petrol at filling stations across the country.

“NNPCL had an operational meeting with MOMAN to ensure that products are effectively distributed across the country,” he added said.

The helmsman said MOMAN members would be working late and during the weekend to bridge product supply gaps.

He added that the scarcity resulted from delays experienced at the point of receiving products from offshore to onshore at the port.

He, however, said the logistics challenge had been resolved, and members were currently trucking out products.

However, the oil marketers and petroleum depot operators, under the aegis of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), called for quick intervention by the federal government.

Its chairman, Winifred Akpani, urged the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to comply with the federal government’s directive to end payment of port charges in dollars for petroleum products brought into the country.

Ms Akpani maintained that assessing forex through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) window would enhance their capacity, facilitate a seamless supply of petrol, and birth a regime of sustainability in terms of storage, distribution and supply across the nation.

She added that the burden of sourcing forex through the parallel market for transactions domiciled in Nigeria had left petroleum marketers in dire straits.

Some filling stations owned by major oil marketers sell petrol at a regulated price of N170 per litre, while stations belonging to IPMAN members sell between N220 and N240 per litre.

Most filling stations that have fuel collect N100 at the entrance before vehicles are allowed to enter filling stations and an additional N100 to sell to vehicle owners.

Black marketers have taken advantage of the situation to hoard products and sell to desperate motorists at exorbitant prices. 

(NAN)