By Olushola Okunlade
However, delayed outstanding payments by NNPC Trade Ltd, a subsidiary of NNPC group, to international traders including major Swiss trading firms Trafigura, PV Oil Singapore PTE Limited, and Mercuria, oil major Total as well as large Nigerian traders, have created cash flow constraints, hindering its ability to secure enough petrol to meet national demand.
The terms of this contract used to supply nearly all of Nigeria’s petrol needs and cover some of its diesel and jet fuel consumption is usually in 90 days, according to findings by newsmen.
“Apart from Ardova which currently has stocks, some of the biggest marketers such as NNPC’s retail Limited, Mobil, and TotalEnergies are currently down with low petrol stocks. That is why you are seeing the scarcity around Lagos which may spread to other states,” the source added.
Findings showed two vessels carrying Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, were offloading petrol products at Apapa jetty as at the filing of this report.
Further findings showed a daughter vessel called MT GRACE LEO @NOJ with 10,400 metric tonnes (MT) arrived on Thursday while another daughter vessel MT PERICLES @ASPM Jetty with 37,045MT arrived on Wednesday evening.
“We need stability of supply for the next couple of days before we can see total disappearance of queues across all filling stations,” Chinedu Uzordike, a member of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, told newsmen.
Efforts to get comment from Olufemi Soneye, chief corporate communications officer at the NNPC, proved abortive.
The findings showed NNPC Ltd swapped nine million barrels of oil, valued at $755.74 million under its direct sale, direct purchase arrangement (DSDP) in November 2023.
The arrangement is a strategy by NNPC to ensure a sustained supply of petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, and kerosene in the country.
In June 2023, the NNPC said it commenced terminating crude oil swap contracts and would pay cash for petrol imports.
The development followed the removal of the subsidy in May 2023, with petrol prices going above N500 a litre as against the subsidised N185.
“In the last four months, we practically terminated all direct sale direct purchase (DSDP) contracts. And we now have an arm’s-length process where we can pay cash for the imports,” Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group chief executive officer, told Reuters in June 2023.
However, NNPC’s data published on January 18, 2024, showed that the DSDP arrangement was still in place as of November 2023.
The document also showed that NNPC used 6.66 million barrels (valued at $550.13 million) for its ‘DSDP PPSA crude oil liftings’ deal in the same month.
It also said a total of 516,235 barrels was used for the ‘Federal Inland Revenue Service DSDP crude oil liftings’. The deal was worth $46.35 million — bringing the total value of the transactions to $755.74 million.
According to the data, NNPC’s customers (clients) in the oil swap deals were the Gulf Transport and Trading, AA Rano Nigeria, PV Oil Singapore PTE Limited, Oando Plc, Sahara Energy Resources, Mercuria, Mocoh SA, and Oando DMCC.
