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Private depots deplete fuel stock as strike continues

By BusinessNews Staff on September 20, 2014

A fresh round of fuel scarcity is looming in the country as private depots from which marketers are currently loading petroleum products may soon exhaust their stock if the ongoing strike by oil workers in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation persists.

The strike by the NNPC branches of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria was embarked upon following a dispute with the management of the corporation over pension management and other issues.

It has already led to the shutdown of the refineries and depots owned by the NNPC.

When our correspondent visited the NNPC Ejigbo depot in Lagos on Thursday, which before the strike bubbled with marketers and tankers loading petrol, there was no activity.

The Lagos Zonal Chairman, NUPENG, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, told our correspondent on the telephone that the aftermath of the strike would be fuel scarcity as the private depots would son exhaust what they were selling to the marketers.

Korodo said, “The aftermath of the strike will be fuel scarcity. That is why we want the government to quickly address the issue so that Nigerians will not experience another round of product scarcity.

“Marketers are loading from private depots now because the strike only affects NNPC depots. But the fact is that they will need to get supply from the NNPC when they finish what they have. By the time they exhaust what they have, we will see the result.

“We are not only fighting for our own cause, we are fighting for Nigerians because we want crude oil to be pumped to our refineries. We don’t want the refineries to be left moribund.” Meanwhile, crude oil output from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has seen a reduction following the stoppage of pumping from Libya’s biggest producing oilfield and the cut in Saudi Arabia’s output, is further being threatened by the ongoing strike in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s crude exports face a decline as the strike has affected operations at the export terminals. The country pumped 2.3 million barrels per day in August, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The export terminals, refineries and NNPC depots have all been affected by the strike, Korodo said.

The NNPC staff monitors and approves crude shipment documents at the terminals in conjunction with industry regulators.

The workers at the Department of Petroleum Resources and other NNPC subsidiaries on Wednesday joined the strike called by the unions at the NNPC headquarters.

The closure of NNPC offices, including its subsidiary, the Nigerian Gas Company, had resulted in the switching off of gas supply to the West African Gas Pipeline, which transports gas to neighbouring Ghana, Togo and the Benin Republic.

“This could affect export of the crude, as workers at the export terminals also joined the strike, while importation and distribution of petroleum products may also be affected as the NNPC accounts for 60 per cent of petroleum importation into the country,” the Media and Information Officer, PENGASSAN, Mr. Babatunde Oke, was quoted to have said in a statement.”

[Punch]

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