By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Amidst the ongoing fear of fuel scarcity across the country during the festive season, the Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA) has assured the public that there will be adequate stock availability of petroleum products that will cover beyond the festive period.
PRA in a press release dated 30th November, 2023 said there should be no tendency for speculative or panic buying. It stated that based on the current import parity and the downstream pricing structure, pump prices will remain unchanged at NLE30 per litre throughout Sierra Leone.
The Petroleum Regulatory Agency in the release observed queues at some retail outlets in the major cities for Petroleum products; a situation it said is a result of routine pipeline maintenance that was interrupted over the weekend which affected the normal supply chain.
It pointed out that the pipeline maintenance had been completed as the engineering work resumed immediately after the situation improved. It further stated that Petroleum products have been transferred overnight to various fuel terminals including NP SL, Leone Oil & Conex Energy for which full trucking is currently ongoing at the respective installations.
PRA warned “notorious petroleum hoarders” to desist from their illegal activities or face the full force of the law including cancellations of operating licenses.
Responding to the press release issued by PRA, the Communications Manager of NP SL Limited, Williette James (PhD) confirmed to Politico that they have received their Petroleum Products supply in their terminal and loading is in progress but that it takes time to reach the various fuel stations. She said they now have products going into the marketplace, and soon there should be fewer queues. She assured that those in the provinces will have normalcy by Saturday, considering the limitation with the toll road and travelling issue.
Long queues were observed at different gas stations in Freetown last week indicating a scarcity that may lead to an increase in the pump prices of petroleum products. People reacted to the situation with mixed feelings.
However, most of the commercial drivers politico spoke to during that period preferred an official increase in the prices to artificial scarcity which paved the way for black marketers to sell at exorbitant prices.
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