Oil & Energy
Kerosene Scarcity: Housewives’ Nightmare
The scarcity of Read
Kerosene product which is daily used to power stoves for the preparation of meals in most Nigerian homes has become a nightmare to most housewives and other users of the product across the nation.
The product is hardly found in the filling stations and amongst the few selling it the price skyrockets to N220.00 as against the recently official price of N130 per litre pegged by the Federal Government.
As a result of this ugly situation most homes who rely on the product for preparation of food for their families and to feed their lanterns, especially at this present era of epileptic public supply of electricity, resort to roadside hawkers where the price is even higher.
Amongst 21 filling stations visited by our correspondent in Port Harcourt, only three had the product to sell and customers buy at N220 and above against the N130 recently fixed by the Federal Government.
At Oando filling station, along Ikwerre Road, the attendant said that had for over three months, they have not got Kerosene to sell to customers.
The attendant who pleaded anonymity said, myy brother, even myself selling in a filling station, I find it difficult to get kerosene for my family use. Whatever is the reason behind the scarcity is what I cannot explain. But the reality is that most filling stations don’t have kerosene supply from the depot”.
A housewife, Chidinma Okere, who lives in Diobu told The Tide that for the past six months, she had stopped going to filling stations to look for kerosene because “each time I go they tell me, there is no kerosene”.
“The only option left for me is to rely on the street hawkers for purchase at skyrocketed price of N250.00 and above per litre,” she noted.
Okere explained that the issue of scarcity and attendant high price of kerosene has become the biggest challenge confronting housewives and most others who use the product as source of fire to prepare meals daily for their families.
“The price of gas has gone high, the electricity supply is hardly seen. Tell me what the government people want us to do in this kind of situation”, she said.
The situation appears to be more serious in the hinterland as most users of the product rely on crude sources of energy which provide alternative sources to kerosene.
A teach in a primary school in Mba Community in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State Mary Amakolonwa, told our correspondent that, “instead of using kerosene stove, I now use firewood to cook my meals”.
Amakolonwa explained that the high price of the product which has gone far above the purchasing power of the common housewife has pushed up the demand for firewood resulting in high price.
“A bunch of firewood which sellers beg you to buy at N150.00 few months ago goes for N250.00 today”, she said explaining that a bunch hardly serves a large family for more than one day.
The use of firewood was discouraged by the Federal Ministry of Environment which few years ago was initiating a cleaner energy project that requires cheap cooking gas as a way of saving the environment from pollution and protection of ecology.
But with the negative impact of the Kerosene product scarcity and high price, an estimated 30 million homes that use kerosene are today resorting to other alternatives most of which endanger the environment.
Investigation by The Tide revealed that the major cause of kerosene scarcity hinges around the complexity in getting foreign Exchange (FOREX) by the petroleum products marketers.
A source from the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) told The Tide that most of its members have not imported kerosene for several months because of the difficulties in accessing Forex.
“You know that NNPC is now the major importer with the major marketers called MOMAN. I as a marketer am not prepared to go through the hurdles involved in importation of kerosene”, said the source.
The source who pleaded that his name should not be mentioned, revealed that IPMAN has however, been assured of FOREX by the Federal Government to enable members import products.
“How feasible this Federal Government promise will be is not what anybody or member of IPMAN can guarantee you. However let us hope that government on its side will live up to its promise”.
The National President of IPMAN, Comrade Chinedu Okoronkwo had two weeks ago also said that the association was partnering with some major stakeholders in the oil industry to import kerosene.
The association’s boss who noted that the hardship being faced by the masses on kerosene was as a result of scarcity assured that the body had got licence to import both kerosene and diesel to ease the hardship.
A housewife in Diobu Mrs Celine Johnson, views the scarcity of kerosene as an act of sabotage to Nigerians and accused the Federal Government of either not being proactive or insensitive to what concerns the ordinary Nigerian.
“How really can you imagine that ordinary kerosene will also be so scarce that a poor woman would be made to pay over N200 to buy a litre in a country so blessed with huge deposits of crude oil?
“If the government actually cares for us, having known that the refineries are dead, they should have known within government plans the volume of the products the masses use and import it so that we are saved from this horror”, she said, noting that it was because government do not care about the masses that voted them into power.
“I have electric system I use for preparing my family meals, but that I can’t use and have not used for the past six months because the so called public supply of electricity is an issue beyond everybody. The gas has become another huddle because it is also scarce and very costly.
“I beg the government people to please consider what we are passing through. They should not be telling us about how much they are stealing at the National Assembly, NNPC, other Federal and State agencies, they should please give us kerosene because we are helpless”, she remarked.
Another respondent, Clarkson Ebi, also blamed the government for the situation, noting that the government has the capacity to change situation but appear not to be ready to do so.
“I heard recently that Federal Government has hiked kerosene price to N130.00 per litre and if you had gone to the filling stations, you hardly find the product to buy and amongst the one or two filling stations that are selling, they sell above N220.00 how many of them have been arrested by the government for contravening the directive?
“Government is only interest in fixing price but to get up from the seat and find out what happens in the field is not considered important because it concerns the poor masses”, Ebi said.
Ebi commended the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike for setting up a committee to monitor petroleum products in the state, saying the government took a laudable step.
He however urged the governor to prevail or mandate the committee to ensure that products meant for the state were not diverted to other states or outside Nigeria.
A public analyst, Chidubem Bon, however expressed doubt on the ability of both government and the petroleum marketers to provide lasting solution to the issue of product scarcity as long as they rely on import.
He said: “How can you rely on importation to serve a large country like Nigeria when God has blessed us with huge oil and gas deposit?
“At global level Nigeria is amongst the highest producers of crude and gas, yet, you rely on foreign countries to handle refining of the products for you to buy and service a population of close to 200 million citizens”.
Bon urged government to practically encourage local refineries in the country so that we have a system that can be predictable and also engage our population in practical production as a way of increasing employment opportunities for Nigerians.
“Local refining will stamp out scarcity, boost export earnings for the country, create employment as well as boost wealth creation and end numerous avoidable social vices prevalent today in Nigerian society”, he said.
Another danger created by kerosene scarcity, our investigation revealed, is that, adulteration of the product has become prevalent, as records have shown that explosions have occurred in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor in some homes as a result of fake or adulterated kerosene.
The newly inaugurated committee on Petroleum Product Monitoring in the state should as a matter of urgency check a situation where filling stations lack kerosene, yet hawkers have the products to sell.
Checks reveal that the few filling stations prefer selling to bulk buyers at higher prices, who in turn sell to the street sellers at exorbitant prices.
Chris Oluoh
Traders have not been this bearish on oil in months or so bullish on United States natural gas in years.
The latest data on money managers’ positioning in the WTI and Brent crude and U.S. natural gas futures showed two contrasting trends—speculators are betting that oil prices would remain low or go even lower while increasing the bets that natural gas prices would continue marching higher.
So far this year, geopolitical and supply and demand factors have been increasingly bearish for the oil price outlook and increasingly bullish for natural gas prices.
In the oil market, hedge funds and other portfolio managers have been slashing their bullish bets since the end of January, when the U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil trade were the primary bullish driver of managed money to bet on a tightening market.
With U.S. President, Donald Trump, now in office, the sentiment has quickly soured amid the president’s insistence on lower oil prices, his efforts to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, and – most of all – the enormous uncertainty about on-and-off tariffs and tariff threats and their potential impact on the American economy.
As a result, market participants are preparing for lower oil prices, even amid expectations of declining oil supply from Iran and Venezuela due to President Trump’s hawkish policy toward these OPEC producers.
Speaking of OPEC, the wider OPEC+ group has just said it would begin increasing supply as of April, adding further downward pressure on prices.
Faced with all these bearish drivers, money managers have been reducing their bullish bets on crude oil futures, with the U.S. WTI Crude hitting the lowest net long position – the difference between bullish and bearish bets – in 15 years at the end of February.
In the week to March 4, the latest reporting week with data released on March 7, speculators bought WTI amid a major selloff in all other commodities except for U.S. natural gas.
The net long in WTI rebounded from the 15-year low, but it wasn’t because the market suddenly started betting on higher prices going forward. The rise in WTI buying and the net long was the result of short covering in the U.S. crude futures contract.
In Brent, hedge funds cut their bullish-only bets in the week to March 4 for the biggest decline in longs since July 2024.
Unlike in crude oil, money managers have become increasingly bullish on U.S. natural gas after inventories dipped this winter to below the five-year average as demand surged in the coldest winter for six years.
The net long in natural gas further swelled in the week to March 4, as the number of new bullish bets was four times higher than the new short positions.
“Natural gas continues to benefit from rising demand, both domestically in the US and towards exports via LNG,” Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, said, commenting on the latest Commitment of Traders report.
At the start of the winter heating season in November, U.S. natural gas inventories were higher than average for the time of the year as America entered the season with stocks at their highest level since 2016.
These stocks, however, were quickly depleted during the coldest winter for six years, with demand for space heating and power generation soaring. A month before the end of the winter heating season, U.S. natural gas inventories have now slumped to below the five-year average and well below the levels from the same time in 2024, at the end of a mild winter.
The lower inventories and the higher demand – both for domestic consumption and LNG exports – have pushed prices higher, encouraging producers to boost gas output this year. Traders bet that prices will go even higher as demand from LNG plants is set to accelerate with the ramp-up of new U.S. export plants.
Paraskova writes for Oilprice.com.
By: Tsvetana Paraskova
Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings says it has successfully completed the acquisition of 100 percent equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
Spokesperson of the company, Tony Okonedo, who disclosed this in a Press Release, Last Thursday, said Renaissance has completed all processes for the full transfer of ownership of SPDC to the consortium, adding that it will now operate as Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited.
“Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings today announced that it has successfully completed the landmark transaction between itself and Shell for the acquisition of the entire (100%) equity holding in the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
“This follows the signing of a sale and purchase agreement with Shell in January 2024 and obtaining all regulatory approvals required for the transaction. Going forward, SPDC will be renamed as ‘Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited.
“Going forward, SPDC will be renamed as ‘Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited’.
“Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings is a consortium consisting of four successful Nigerian independent oil and gas companies: ND Western Limited, Aradel Holdings Plc. FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited and the Waltersmith Group, each with considerable operations experience in the Niger Delta, and Petrolin, an international energy company with global trading experience and a pan African outlook”, the statement reads.
Speaking on the acquisition, the Managing Director/CEO, Renaissance Africa Energy Holding,Tony Attah, said Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited has a vision to be the leading oil and gas producer in Africa and to help the continent achieve energy security.
Attah expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for its support and pledged the company’s commitment to the Petroleum Industry Act.
“We are extremely proud to have completed this strategic acquisition. The Renaissance vision is to be ‘Africa’s leading oil and gas company, enabling energy security and industrialization in a sustainable manner’.
“We and our shareholder companies are therefore pleased that the Federal Government has given the green light for this milestone acquisition in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act”, he said.
The CEO acknowledged the contributions of Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in facilitating the deal.
He said, “we extend our appreciation to the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, the CEO of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the CEO of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for their foresight and belief, paving the way for the rapid development of Nigeria’s vast oil and gas resources as strategic accelerator for the country’s industrial development”.
The Statement further revealed that Renaissance partner companies collectively have an asset base of more than $3 billion and currently safely produce approximately 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from 12 oil mining leases and operate two functioning modular refineries in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.
The Federal Government has cautioned oil-rich communities against infighting and disruption of oil production, saying it could hinder their access to the Host Community Development Fund.
Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, made the appeal while speaking at the KEFFESO Stakeholders Forum, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Lokpobiri noted that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) was enacted to bring stability to the oil sector and address longstanding grievances about underdevelopment in host communities.
He lamented, however, that internal disputes among stakeholders have made it difficult for these communities to access and utilize the funds meant for their development.
Lokpobiri insisted that host communities must overcome internal conflicts that hinder their access to the funds.
“This KEFFESO Stakeholders Forum is to see how host communities can maximize the benefits from the Host Communities Trust Funds as prescribed by the PIA.
“If oil production is disrupted, everyone loses — the Federal Government, oil companies, and the host communities themselves. That is why host communities must collaborate with the government and oil companies to ensure smooth operations” Lokpobiri stated.
The Minister called on Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs) in the Niger Delta to effectively utilize the 3% operational funds allocated to them under the PIA 2021 to drive sustainable development.
He further called that oil-producing communities should take ownership of the oil and gas facilities within their domains and work with relevant stakeholders to ensure sustainable benefits.
“As stakeholders who have their respective stakes in oil and gas operations in the country, we should work together to ensure that we maximize the benefits of oil and gas.”
The minister also emphasized the global push for cleaner energy, warning that the relevance of fossil fuels depends on their extraction and marketability.
“Don’t forget there is a global campaign against the continuation of production of fossil fuel.
“Fossil fuel will never go away. Fossil fuel will not have any value unless you bring it out of the ground or from the sea to the market, that is why we need this collaboration,” he said.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Omotsola Ogbe, reaffirmed the board’s commitment to leveraging the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act.
Represented by the Board’s Director of Legal Services, Naboth Onyesoh, Ogbe noted that the NCDMB’s Community Content Guidelines were designed to ensure sustained community engagement as local content is prioritized throughout the oil and gas value chain.
Ogbe praised the KEFFESO Host Community Development Trust for its efforts in ensuring that oil revenues benefit local communities.
Also speaking, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, First E & P, Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, described the KEFFESO Stakeholders Forum as a crucial platform for discussing and strategizing solutions to the challenges facing marginalized communities in the Niger Delta.
He reiterated the company’s commitment to fostering meaningful and sustainable development in the region.
The forum, themed “Envisioning Sustainable Community Development in Niger Delta Host Communities: Identifying Challenges and Actualising The PIA Paradigm Shift,” brought together key stakeholders to discuss strategies for maximising the benefits of the Petroleum Industry Act(PIA).