Over 9,000 oil marketing companies are in danger of losing their operating licences as Nigeria battles fuel shortages.
This was revealed by the association in a press release signed by the National Public Relations Officer, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, on Thursday in Abuja, according to The Punch
Consequently, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria is calling on NNPC to grant a further extension until July to renew its licences.
In addition, it called on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority to release 9,000 licences that have already been processed for its members.
Recall that IPMAN in a statement on Sunday expressed its disappointment at NMDPRA’s sluggish renewal of licences for marketers.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited had announced a deadline of April 15, 2024, for marketers to renew their licences or risk closure to access their customer express portals for the purchase of petroleum products from NNPC Retail Limited.
IPMAN, on the other hand, asked for an extension to allow merchants to reconcile their licences and reduce panic buying by members of the public that exacerbates the current shortage in petroleum products.
The statement read, “The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria is abreast with current developments in the downstream sector of our petroleum industry and wish to state that the latest information reaching us from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority states that they have already processed more than 9,000 out of the 15,000 licenses they are expected to process for our members within this period.
“Marketers are fast-tracking the processing of their licenses to avoid the impending closure of their customer express portals for purchase of petroleum products from NNPC Retail Limited.
“We, therefore, use this opportunity to appeal to the management of the NMDPRA and NNPC Retail Limited to respectively release the processed licenses and extend the deadline for delisting of marketers from their express portals. If our request is granted, it will ease the tension of panic buying by members of the public in order not to aggravate the present scarcity of petroleum products.”
In addition, Ukadike said, “The release is to appeal to the NNPCL and NMPDRA to please extend the final deadline to July so that it would enable them to reconcile the licences so that they will not be unduly shut out off the portal and that is IPMAN appeal.”
However, the NMDPRA South-West Regional Coordinator, Ayo Cardoso responding to the plea of the marketers said NMDPRA shall examine the application and an appropriate decision would be taken.
Recall AMBusiness had reported on Tuesday that IPMAN had threatened to shut down 30,000 filing stations operated by its members amid the ongoing fuel crisis,
It was stated that IPMAN had accused the NMDPRA of refusing to clear the debt, which had continued to accrue since September 2022.
