Why fuel scarcity persists – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday
said the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country should be blamed on
oil marketers, saying they were hoarding the product.

NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, who disclosed this
yesterday, said the corporation had increased supply of Premium
Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, across the country from
about 30 million litres to 80 million litres per day.

This is even as the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, in
an unscheduled visit, forced some filling stations hoarding petrol
in Lagos, to dispense the product.

The filling stations included MRS, Oando, Ascon, Conoil and
Mobil at Ebute Metta

Baru said: “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 million to 30 million litres per
day.”

The NNPC boss, who was quoted in a statement in Abuja, disclosed
that the hike in the product supply became necessary after the
current hiccup in fuel supply was noticed a few days back, adding
that these measures would ensure that the fuel crisis comes to an
end this week. According to the statement, Mr. 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.

The biofuels project is expected to create one million direct
and indirect jobs for Nigerians on completion and would also
produce about 84 million litres of fuel ethanol annually. The NNPC
said that it plans to mobilize to site by the first quarter of
2018. Baru blamed the current fuel crisis on the rumour about a
planned increase in the price of petrol, which made some
unscrupulous marketers, wanting to cash in on the situation, to
suddenly start hoarding products. Baru noted 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 would return the
country to a 30-day-plus sufficiency.

Crude oil sales automation

Speaking on the automation of its crude oil sales processes,
Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division of the NNPC,
Mr. Mele Kyari, stated that the automation exercise which would be
concluded in 2018 had enabled the corporation to achieve an
end-to-end monitoring of every barrel of crude oil sold in the
country. “Today at a click of a button we can tell you how much
crude oil is sold, at what price, who bought it and where it has
gone to among others,” he explained.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday
said the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country should be blamed on
oil marketers, saying they were hoarding the product.

NNPC Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, who disclosed this
yesterday, said the corporation had increased supply of Premium
Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, across the country from
about 30 million litres to 80 million litres per day.

This is even as the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, in
an unscheduled visit, forced some filling stations hoarding petrol
in Lagos, to dispense the product.

The filling stations included MRS, Oando, Ascon, Conoil and
Mobil at Ebute Metta

Baru said: “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 million to 30 million litres per
day.”

The NNPC boss, who was quoted in a statement in Abuja, disclosed
that the hike in the product supply became necessary after the
current hiccup in fuel supply was noticed a few days back, adding
that these measures would ensure that the fuel crisis comes to an
end this week. According to the statement, Mr. 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.

The biofuels project is expected to create one million direct
and indirect jobs for Nigerians on completion and would also
produce about 84 million litres of fuel ethanol annually. The NNPC
said that it plans to mobilize to site by the first quarter of
2018. Baru blamed the current fuel crisis on the rumour about a
planned increase in the price of petrol, which made some
unscrupulous marketers, wanting to cash in on the situation, to
suddenly start hoarding products. Baru noted 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 would return the
country to a 30-day-plus sufficiency.

Crude oil sales automation

Speaking on the automation of its crude oil sales processes,
Group General Manager, Crude Oil Marketing Division of the NNPC,
Mr. Mele Kyari, stated that the automation exercise which would be
concluded in 2018 had enabled the corporation to achieve an
end-to-end monitoring of every barrel of crude oil sold in the
country. “Today at a click of a button we can tell you how much
crude oil is sold, at what price, who bought it and where it has
gone to among others,” he explained.