Filling stations shut, queues persist as depots ration fuel

Many filling stations were shut in several states as the queues for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, continued on Monday while depots rationed the volumes of PMS released to marketers.

In Abuja, NIger and Nasarawa states, several filling stations were shut, while the few ones that dispensed petrol recorded different levels of fuel queues.

The NNPC and Conoil filling stations along the Kubwa end of the Kubwa-Zuba expressway in Abuja had long queues of motorists who sought to buy petrol on Monday. Many other outlets including Salbas, Gegu Oil, and Eterna, among others that are located on the busy road, had no product to dispense and were closed.

In Niger State, one of our correspondents observed that the three NNPC retail outlets located between Zuba and Madalla were closed. Other outlets on the Zuba-Madalla axis of the expressway such as A.A Rano, B.A Bello, Total, A.Y Maikifi, Major Oil and Enyo were all shut on Monday.

Their closures led to massive queues at the only Mobil filling station in Madalla that was dispensing petrol on Monday when our correspondent toured the areas to observe the fuel supply situation.

As the queues persisted, depot owners continued to battle a low supply of petrol. One of our correspondents also observed that only the filling stations owned by the major marketers dispensed fuel to buyers on Monday amid long queues in some parts of Lagos and Ogun State.

It was observed that retail outlets owned by the independent marketers were under lock and key due to their inability to get fuel supply.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited retail outlet in Iyana-Woro had a long queue of vehicles waiting to buy petrol. The NNPC Retail outlets usually sell PMS at prices below N600/litre in Lagos, but dispense it at N617/litre in Abuja and environs.

Also, the Heyden filling station along Iyana-Woro, MRS at Alapere, Conoil, TotalEnergies, and Mobil along Alahusa Secretariat all had long queues as they sold a litre of PMS between N617 and N650.

Drivers who could not wait in the queues said they had to patronise the independent marketers who sell between N700 and N900/litre. The situation led to a rise in transport fares across Lagos and Ogun states.

A depot operator, who pleaded anonymity, confided in one of our correspondents that the few depots that had the product engaged in rationing on Monday.

“Nothing has changed as of Monday. The depot owners have started rationing the little they have. Depots are loading, but at snail speed, and this was occasioned by the paucity of product,” the source stated.

Another source hinted that it might take up to a week to restore normalcy, adding that the planned hunger protest might worsen the situation.

“This scarcity will be with us till the weekend because supply dislocation takes a minimum of one week to get to normalcy. If the movement of trucks during protest is affected, it will get worse,” he added.

The According reported that many petrol depots were dry as of Sunday, leading to fuel scarcity and attendant queues in Lagos, Ogun, parts of Abuja, Niger, and some other states across the country.

It was gathered that black marketers had since taken advantage of the situation, selling as high as N1,300/litre and N1,500/litre in parts of Lagos and Ogun states.

Long queues started building up at fuel stations in Abuja and Lagos on Friday and have persisted.

“The NNPC Ltd wishes to state that the tightness in fuel supply and distribution witnessed in some parts of Lagos and the FCT is a result of a hitch in the discharge operations of a couple of vessels,” NNPC Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, had explained.

The company added that it was “working round the clock with all stakeholders to resolve the situation and restore normalcy in the operations.”

However, despite the assurance by the NNPC, the situation worsened as checks by our correspondents nationwide on Sunday showed that there were long queues at several filling stations across major cities.