PENGASSAN strike: NNPC warns against panic buying, hoarding of petrol

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has urged motorists not to engage in panic petrol buying, a day after a trade union representing oil workers began a strike that raised fears of future fuel shortages.
Petrol shortages caused lengthy queues for motorists seeking to fill their tanks earlier this year after fuel importers struggled to find dollars needed to pay for refined oil products due to foreign exchange restrictions imposed by the central bank.
It would be recalled that the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Thursday, said 10,000 of its members, which include refinery workers and office staff, had begun industrial action over issues “critical to the survival” of the country’s energy sector.
There was no sign yet of any panic buying but the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) cautioned members of the public against any form of panic purchase.
“The corporation has in stock enough products to satisfy local consumption requirements for the next 45 days,” said NNPC spokesman Garba Deen Muhammad.
Muhammad also said the state oil company had begun talks with trade union leaders to address their concerns.
PENGASSAN said it decided to strike over issues such as joint venture funding and cash call arrears, which it said had stalled the creation of new jobs and investment in the sector.
Cash calls are the government’s financial obligations to joint venture projects between NNPC and international and local oil companies.
Meanwhile, reports have emerged indicating that marketers have stopped loading of fuel at Apapa, Lagos, to northern and south-eastern parts of the country.
The refusal to load petroleum products to those places stemmed from the absence of the workers of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) board to certify marketers’ trucks to enable them get bridging fund for fuel transported to very distant parts of the country.
PEF is charged with the primary responsibility of reimbursing petroleum marketing companies for any loss suffered by them, solely and exclusive, as a result of sale of petroleum products at uniform prices throughout the nation.
“It is not that the marketers cannot load to those places. But if they take the risk of loading, they stand losing N8 to N9 per litre as bridging fund. And PEF is not going to do a reversal of what it did not see.
“In our depot we are loading, but it is not as high as before. A larger percentage of the country has been cut off. Eighty per cent of the trucks that are loaded to other parts of the country is from Apapa and Ibafo, not even from Mosimi or Ejigbo depot.
“Marketers are only loading to Lagos and other South-West states that do not require PEF. You need 300km to 400km before you can be entitled to the bridging fund,” said a source.
Chairman, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Lagos Zone, Tokunbo Korodo, said, “The strike is having its toll on us because PENGASSAN members are in charge of loading of tankers. Since they are not working, the depots authorities are only making use of some contract or casual workers so that the impact of the strike will not be much felt.”
The National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, urged the Federal Government to settle with the oil workers to ensure seamless operations and fuel distribution in the country.