Fuel scarcity persists as banks deny marketers credit

The scarcity of refined petroleum products, especially
petrol, may continue across the country for the
unforeseeable future because marketers have stopped
importing the product due to the reluctance of the
banks to provide them with credit.
It was also learnt that as of May 29, 2015, the amount
being owed all the oil marketers by the Federal
Government was N291.7bn.
Our correspondent gathered that the refusal of the
banks to provide credit to the marketers had adversely
affected the business of some of them, as many were
already contemplating leaving the venture.
Sources in the sector, who spoke with our
correspondent in Abuja on Sunday, said that the refusal
of the banks to provide additional loans to the
marketers could be due to the Federal Government’s
delay in paying the huge subsidy debt being owed the
fuel importers.
Although they admitted that the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation was currently the sole importer
of petrol, the quantity of fuel being consumed in the
country was so high that the NNPC might not be able
to handle it solely.
“Banks are refusing to give some marketers loans to
import petrol and they are hoping that the present
administration will intervene, particularly by paying the
huge subsidy debt, because the NNPC alone may not
be able to shoulder all the fuel need of Nigeria,” an
official at the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources,
who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of
anonymity, said.
Confirming this, the Executive Secretary, Depot and
Petroleum Products Marketers Association, Mr. Olufemi
Adewole, told our correspondent that members of the
group were not importing petrol again, because the
banks had yet to open credit lines to them.
He said, “We are still being owed, and as of May 29, the
total debt owed all marketers was N291.7bn. Banks
have yet to fully reopen credit lines to all our members,
hence we have not been importing as much as we
should.
“At DAPPMA, what I can tell you is that since the tanker
drivers called off their strike, we have not resumed
importation. Our money is still outstanding and, in fact,
banks have not fully opened their credit lines to us.
“Meanwhile, we are aware that the NNPC has been
coming up with a lot of statements and we still can’t
say whether it has products or not. But on our own
part, we have not been paid and we have not been
importing as much as we should.”
Last week, the NNPC said it had enough stock of petrol
to service the country for 25 days at a national
consumption rate of 40 million litres per day, adding
that it had stepped up product distribution to petroleum
marketers and its retail outlets across the country.
Despite these assurances, the scarcity of petrol has
continued in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the
country.