Don’t engage in panic buying, we have significant stock – oil marketers

Petroleum marketers under the aegis of Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN) on Thursday stated that they have significant stock of products.

CEO of MEMAN, Clement Isong spoke against the backdrop of fuel queues in some parts of the country following recent comment from the President of Dangote, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

Dangote had while speaking after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa on the naira-for-crude policy declared that he has 500 million in stock not lifted by the marketers.

According to him, “At full capacity we can even supply whatever is being consumed because what I estimated as our consumption is about 30-32 million litres which we can even start producing by next week.

“As we speak today, we have 500 million litres in our tanks. With that even if there is no production anywhere or no import that will take the country more than 12 days.”

Following several inquiries “regarding a perceived tightness in the petroleum supply market,” MEMAN assured the general public and all stakeholders not to engage in panic buying, saying, “we have significant stock of products in our tanks and/or access to significant stock of products in the tanks of our suppliers (including Dangote Refinery and NNPC Trading Limited), and a clear line of sight on future supplies for all petroleum products.”

“The benefit of diversification of supply and deregulation is that diligent marketers can plan and book in advance for their supply needs and make adequate adjustments and alternative arrangements in advance to avoid product outages. MEMAN does not envisage any outages of petroleum products in the immediate future or in the near term.
“We urge the public not to panic-buy petroleum products, as our supply efficiency continues to improve, and logistics optimization begin to set in.

“MEMAN members shall continue to do all within their power to optimize their supply and logistics costs and efficiency to ensure the highest level of availability, accessibility and affordability for their customers in the increasingly competitive environment.”