Petroleum marketers are raising concerns over a looming fuel scarcity in Nigeria following the closure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) portal, which is used by dealers to purchase Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol.
Chinedu Ukadike, spokesperson for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), revealed that over 2,000 pending tickets for the purchase of 45,000 liters of petrol each have been blocked due to the portal’s shutdown. This could lead to a nationwide fuel shortage if the situation isn’t resolved soon.
“We have more than 2,000 tickets for 45,000 liters (of petrol) each, amounting to millions of liters in total. The closure of the portal is causing significant delays,” Ukadike warned.
A single 45,000-litre truckload costs around N39.5 million, making the total value of pending purchases exceed N79 billion.
Responding to the development, NNPCL spokesperson Olufemi Soneye explained that the closure was necessary to prevent the company from holding marketers’ funds for too long due to a backlog. He assured that the portal would reopen once the backlog has been sufficiently reduced but did not provide a specific timeline.
This development comes as Nigerians continue to struggle with high energy costs, with petrol prices currently ranging between N950 and N1,100 per liter following NNPCL’s recent price hike in September 2024.
