Most petrol depots in the Lagos area are still dry despite assurances by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to flood the market with products and normalize the supply chain.
Marketers attributed the situation to non-arrival of imported cargoes.
It was however, gathered that the queues experienced in some filling stations did not worsen, despite the tight supply. A market survey showed that out of about 28 functional depots in Lagos only four had stock of petrol, while 14 had diesel.
The major marketers – Oando, Mobil, Forte Oil, Total, Conoil, NIPCO, and MRS however, had petrol, which they were selling at normal prices but to only their dealers, except NIPCO.
Petrol was selling at ex-depot prices of between N140 and N143.50 in the four other depots – D Jones, Mao Oil, Sahara, and Stallonire that had. It was however, not clear if the product belonged to the owners of the depots or was on throughput with a third party.
Diesel was available in 14 depots – Wosbab, NIPCO, AA Rano, Acorn, Aiteo, D Jones, Fatgbems, Folawiyo, Rahamaniya, Obat, MRS, Integrated Oil, Ibeto, and Ibakem. Marketers said they are still awaiting vessels the NNPC had promised to import last week.