Oil marketers have warned of impending fuel scarcity over the decision of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to shut down its petrol purchasing portal.
The development has made it impossible for dealers to place new orders for the product.
The marketers revealed that they are awaiting the supply of over 90 million litres of petrol, valued at approximately N79 billion from NNPCL.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, confirmed that marketers are still loading products but cannot access the portal to confirm prices or place new orders.
According to him, the marketers have pending tickets of over 2000 number of 45,000-litre trucks to be loaded.
He said, “We have more than 2000 tickets for 45,000 litres of petrol each. That is 45,000 multiplied by 2000, you can now know the number of million litres it will be.”
He warned that the closure of the portal, which has disrupted fuel supply, could result in another round of fuel scarcity across the country.
Other marketers who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity said the shutdown has already led to shortages.
“Everyone is affected because we all go to the NNPC portal to place our orders and when the portal is inaccessible the implication is supply is disrupted and we are beginning to see the effect,” another marketer said.
There was no official reaction from NNPCL spokesman, Olufemi Soneye as of press time as he did not respond to our correspondent’s enquiry.
However, some marketers said information available to them was that the portal was shut temporarily due to the backlogs of orders the NNPCL was resolving.
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