Dollar scarcity has been blamed for the return of long queues in the filling stations, NewsSpecng has gathered.
Marketers are said to be unable to pay for the services of ‘daughter’ vessels required to evacuate imported fuel from the ‘mother’ vessels from offshore and also Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) security charges.
Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) Clement Isong, said there were vessels laden with petrol imported by the NNPCL on the high seas waiting to discharge.
He however said the cost of hiring ‘daughter’ vessels for the operation is on the high side.
According to him, it costs $45,000 per day to hire a daughter vessel as opposed to $20,000 because of the high cost of diesel.
He said, “The challenge is the exchange rate and the scarcity. It is very difficult to get dollars. A ‘daughter’ vessel is hired for 10 days to discharge the content from the ‘mother’ vessel. This means that it has shot up from $200,000 to $450,000. Then, marketers and depot owners also pay the NPA and NIMASA charges in dollars. Yet, the dollar is scarce and difficult to get.”
This situation, he explained, is the reason many marketers and depot owners are unable to lift petrol from the ‘mother’ vessels.
Isong said even when some of them lift the product, they still have to factor in the cost of the dollar and other logistics at their depot because no business likes to operate at a loss.
He added: “The problem is really the scarcity of the dollar. The higher the dollar rate, the higher the cost of operation. Unfortunately, you also have these charges to pay to government agencies, like NIMASA and the NPA in dollars.
“Even we, as MOMAN, cannot go and pick the product because we cannot hire a vessel at that price, because we have our limits. That’s the challenge. Every time the dollar rises, it impacts many things.”
The National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mike Osatuyi, said marketers were finding it difficult to get the product owing to a shortage in supply.
“NNPCL is the sole importer of petrol. So, if they cannot make the product available, then how do we get petrol to lift and sell to the public?” Osatuyi asked.
