Fuel Scarcity: NNPC Replies DAPPMA On Supply, Says Marketers Owe N26.7bn

By Nse Anthony-Uko
ABUJA. (Sundiata Post) – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has responded to claims by Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) on the fuel supply situation describing the association’s statement as very unfortunate.
DAPPMA had in a statement on Tuesday, raised issues on the current fuel crisis claiming that its members pay the Corporation in advance for petroleum products.
In a swift response on Wednesday, NNPC’s spokesperson Ndu Ughamadu said the Corporation has supplied appreciable volume to DAPPMA, MOMAN and IPMAN to rid the challenges currently being experienced in the supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country.
Debunking the allegations of products paid for but not supplied yet, Ughamadu said, DAPPMA members owes the NNPC about N26.7 billion.
Part of the DAPPMA statement read; “NNPC imports and distributes through Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Major Oil Market Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN). Our members pay PPMC/NNPC in advance for petroleum products and fully paid up PMS orders that have neither been programmed nor loaded is in excess of 500,000MT (about 800,000,000 litres) as at today and enough to meet the nation’s needs for 19 days at a daily estimated consumption of 35,000,000 litres.”
“NNPC regrets that DAPPMA which members had taken receipts of products from Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC and owe the company to the tune of N26.7billion as at December 21, 2017, has the audacity to indict NNPC unjustifiably,” the statement reads.
Describing the statement by DAPPMA that the current hiccups in the supply of products was due to the inability of the Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) partners of NNPC to deliver on their business obligations as unfounded and self-indicting as according to Ughamadu many of DAPPMA members patronize the same DSDP international counterparts as the corporation.
On DAPPMA’s claims of implication of high landing cost of PMS induced by the rise in the price of crude in the international market as well as exchange rate and bank charges, NNPC said, “Despite the concession by the government giving access to DAPPMA to obtain FOREX at an official rate of N305 per dollar for PMS import, their members have not been able to do so, leaving NNPC as the sole supplier of PMS to the Nigerian market.”
The Corporation however, assures the public that despite the increase it effected in the supply of PMS in the December 2017, it has nonetheless, programmed to supply 1.2billion litres of the white products in January 2018, translating to about 40million litres of PMS supply per day. Ordinarily, Nigeria consumes about 700 trucks (about 27million – 30million) litres per day.
Despite the current challenges, Nigerians are reassured that there is no plan to increase PMS pump price above N145/litre and that NNPC will continue to maintain ex–depot price of N133.28/litre which guarantees the pump price not exceeding the N145 per litre capped by the government, Ughamadu stated.
NNPC was however silent on the claim by DAPPMA that the Corporation absorbs the attendant subsidy on behalf of the government as the current landing cost of PMS is about N170 per litre which in confirmation with what the Group General Manager of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru had revealed recently. A privilege DAPPMA says it does not enjoy.