Oil marketers have raised concerns over the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPC) decision to shut down the portal used for purchasing petrol, preventing them from placing orders for the product. They disclosed that more than 90 million litres of petrol, valued at about N79bn, are yet to be supplied by NNPC.
Petrolprice.ng confirmed the shutdown was effected last month, with NNPC citing a significant backlog as the reason for the closure.
“We have a significant backlog to address. The closure is intended to prevent us from holding marketers’ funds for an extended period,” NNPC spokesperson Olufemi Soneye explained.
He assured marketers that the portal would reopen once the backlog had been reduced. “It will be reopened once the backlog has been sufficiently reduced. We are working to address it as soon as possible,” Soneye added.
Some marketers confirmed that NNPC was taking steps to resolve the issue. However, Chinedu Ukadike, National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), revealed that over 2,000 tickets for 45,000-litre trucks of petrol were still pending with NNPC.
“We have more than 2,000 tickets for 45,000 litres each. That is 45,000 multiplied by 2,000, so you can now estimate the number of million litres it will be,” Ukadike said, noting that a 45,000-litre truckload of petrol currently costs around N39.5m, totalling N79bn when multiplied by 2,000.
The President of the Petroleum Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry, confirmed that the portal shutdown also affected his members, saying, “We are all buying from NNPC.”
Due to the portal closure, marketers have turned to private depot owners, who sell petrol at a premium, leading to higher prices at their filling stations compared to those owned by NNPC and major marketers.
This is not the first time independent marketers have faced delays from NNPC. In January, IPMAN’s National Vice President, Hammed Fashola, alleged that marketers often pay for petrol but do not receive it for months, leaving their funds tied up in NNPC’s accounts. Fashola urged the Federal Government to review the distribution system to give priority to IPMAN members, noting, “We buy products from NNPC cash and carry. We don’t enjoy any credit facility.”
He added, “If I am not exaggerating, we should be talking of over N300bn, when you consider the number of marketers all over Nigeria. Our money is always there, trapped, while we keep struggling to get fuel.”
Marketers are now exploring the possibility of purchasing directly from Dangote to ensure price parity and avoid prolonged delays.
