Ike Amos
21 December 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Thursday, said it has increased the daily supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, from 700 trucks (about 27 million – 30 million) litres per day to 80 million litres per day.
The NNPC in a statement in Abuja noted that the increase was after it noticed the current hiccup in the supply chain a few days back.
The NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, disclosed this shortly before the signing ceremony of a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Corporation and the Benue State Government on the Agasha-Guma Bio-fuels Projects in Abuja.
Baru attributed the hiccups in the supply of PMS to rumours about the purported planned increase in the price of petrol, adding that some marketers, in their quest to cash in on the situation, suddenly started hoarding products.
“But we swiftly swung into action by doubling our supply nationwide. At the time the rumour started, we had about 30-day sufficiency. The normal daily supply to the nation is 700 trucks, equaling about 27-30m litres per day,” Baru explained.
He further stated that the NNPC had enough products sufficiency that will last up to 30 days, adding that at least a billion litre petrol laden cargoes were heading to Nigeria shores at the end of December which he noted would return the country to a 30-day-plus sufficiency.
Baru, who expressed joy at PENGASSAN’s call-off of its planned strike, called on motorists not to engage in panic buying as the Corporation has more than enough products for domestic consumption.
Assuring that the fuel situation would soon fizzle out this week, Baru also warned marketers against hoarding, stressing that any filling station found wanting in this regard would lose its entire products to motorists.
He commended NNPC’s sister agencies, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), for their support in helping NNPC tackle the menace of hoarding by filling stations.
While signing the MoU on the Bio-fuels Project with the Benue State Government, Baru said the project would provide employment for the teeming youths in the state.
“I believe that Benue has what it takes to lead the country in the biofuels industry. I hope that your state will soon move from food basket to fuel basket of the nation,” Baru noted.
The NNPC said the Agasha-Guma bio-fuels project is aimed at developing Integrated Sugarcane Plantation and Fuel-Ethanol/Sugar/Power Plant Complex in Benue State through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
The NNPC said the project is expected to create one million direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians on completion, adding that the project would also produce about 84 million litres of fuel ethanol annually.
The NNPC further stated that it plans to mobilize to the site by the first quarter of 2018.
