Kerosene: Depot owners flay NNPC’s distribution channel

In furtherance of its efforts to bring down the price of dual purpose kerosene (DPK), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has allocated 30,000 metric tonnes (MT) of kerosene to the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) for distribution to their retail outlets across the country.

The vessel – MT Rhino, which brought the product was supposed to have discharged at the weekend at Apapa. 

However, NNPC’s decision to give the product to MOMAN, is brewing conflict among stakeholders in the downstream sector as members of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and the Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON), have strongly opposed the step taken by the government.

The arrangement they said has excluded their members who account for 80 per cent of the distribution network in the country.

A joint communiqué issued by the group after hours of meeting through the DAPPMA Chairman, Mr. Sylverius Okoli and JEPTFON Chairman Mr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, condemned the exclusion of the two groups, which account for 80 per cent distribution infrastructure in the country.

The communiqué read: “We have been informed about the meeting between NNPC and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) to the deliberate exclusion of other stakeholders on the revised guidelines on DPK handling and distribution and wish to state thus: We note the  scarcity of DPK across the country with sadness. The scarcity is largely due to bottlenecks in supply and distribution caused by NNPC being the sole importer of DPK.

“The scarcity is largely due to bottlenecks in supply and distribution caused by NNPC being the sole importer of DPK.

“The purported revised guidelines were drawn up without the input of all stakeholders as it was a meeting strictly between NNPC and MOMAN to the deliberate exclusion of other stakeholders. That the new guidelines were drawn to give undue advantage to MOMAN and will further exacerbate the scarcity of DPK across the nation.

“That distribution of DPK for decades has been largely through DPR licensed peddlers and surface tank resellers who buy from depots and not filling stations. That any attempt to restrict distribution of DPK to MOMAN members only will be a disaster because other excluded stakeholders control about 80 per cent of infrastructure for the efficient reception, storage, and distribution of petroleum products. 

“We, therefore, reject these new guidelines and request that the GMD NNPC should immediately convene a meeting of all stakeholders to stipulate guidelines that will genuinely address the problems of supply and distribution of DPK across the nation and in the interest of the common man.” 

But the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs of NNPC, Dr, Levi Ajuonuma and the Executive Director, Commercial, Products and Pipelines Marketing Company (PPMC), Farouk Ahmed, told journalists that the full cargo of DPK was given to MOMAN to enable it mobilise its members to take delivery and ensure that within 10 days or less, it would get to their stations and the end-users.

The NNPC also set a monitoring committee comprising of NNPC, MOMAN, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to ensure the product is properly distributed and that it gets to the end-users. 

By Emeka Ugwuanyi