Marketers Report Delays in Petrol Supply Due to NNPC Portal Shutdown.

Oil marketers have reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has closed its purchasing portal, preventing dealers from ordering petrol.

They stated that they are still expecting over 90 million litres of petrol from NNPC, which is valued at approximately N79 billion. CONTINUE READING>>>

The PUNCH notes that while marketers have expressed concerns about their inability to place orders, the NNPC confirmed last month that its purchasing portal is indeed shut down and provided an explanation for it.

NNPC spokesperson Olufemi Soneye explained that the portal was closed due to a substantial backlog of orders.

He indicated that this measure was necessary to avoid holding onto the marketers’ capital for too long.

Soneye assured that the portal would be reopened once the backlog had been addressed.

“It will be reopened as soon as we have reduced the backlog sufficiently. We are actively working on this,” he stated.

Marketers who spoke with our correspondent indicated that NNPC is working to resolve the backlog quickly.

While NNPC did not specify the total value of these backlogs, independent marketers mentioned that they still have over 2,000 outstanding orders with the company.

Chinedu Ukadike, the National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, confirmed that they are waiting for the portal to reopen.

“Our marketers are still loading petrol from NNPC, but I cannot confirm prices since the portal remains closed,” he said.

He estimated that with over 2,000 orders for 45,000 litres of petrol each, this amounts to a significant quantity of fuel.

He noted that a truckload of 45,000 litres costs about N39.5 million, totaling around N79 billion when multiplied by 2,000.

The Petroleum Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria also verified that its members are unable to access the NNPC purchasing portal.

PETROAN President, Billy Gillis-Harry, confirmed this issue in a brief conversation with our correspondent.

“The portal shutdown affects us as well since we are all sourcing from NNPC,” he stated.

In the meantime, marketers have resorted to purchasing petrol from private depot owners, who charge a premium.

This situation has contributed to the higher prices at their filling stations compared to those at NNPC-owned and major marketer outlets.

Our correspondent learned that marketers typically bid for petrol through the NNPC portal, making payments via that same channel while waiting for months to receive the product.

Independent marketers told The PUNCH that they have paid for petrol but have not received their orders even after three months.

In a related interview with The PUNCH in January, IPMAN National Vice President Hammed Fashola raised similar concerns, which were denied by Soneye.

Fashola urged the Federal Government to reconsider the current distribution strategy to prioritize IPMAN members.

He mentioned, “We buy products from NNPC on a cash-and-carry basis and do not have access to credit facilities. There are occasions when we pay for products but do not receive them for two or three months, leaving our money with NNPC, which means they are profiting from our funds.”

Fashola estimated that the total amount trapped could exceed N300 billion when considering the number of marketers across Nigeria. “Our funds are stuck while we struggle to obtain fuel. What should take three days can stretch into months if there are stock shortages,” he added. CONTINUE READING>>>

Currently, marketers are seeking to purchase petrol directly from Dangote to achieve fair pricing.