NNPC begins loading at depots to tackle fuel scarcity

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has said it had commenced loading of trucks at all its depots to clear the current scarcity experienced across the country.

It added that there were 1.7 billion litres of petrol currently in stock.

The NNPC, Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kyari, made this known to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday shortly after a meeting with the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and Petrol Tanker Drivers.

Others present at the meeting were the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria.

Kyari said that the additional fuel would relieve the situation because of the persistent queues which continued at the nation’s capital and other parts of the country with fewer stations dispensing the product.

“Currently, we have over 1.7 billion litres of PMS in our hands both in marine and on land.

“This means that we now have the capacity to load out excessively from all depots. We have put in place measures to ensure 24 hours loading in all depots.

“This will ensure that scarcity created by panic buying will now be freed so that normalcy will return to filling stations.

“Typically in situations like this, people go to the fuel stations and buy in excess of what they need and this is what additional supply will resolve. I am very sure that very soon, we will see the relief on this,” he said.

Kyari said that neither the Federal Government nor the NNPC had any plan to raise the pump price of petrol.

He urged marketers to ensure that they sell petrol at the price approved by the government.

He noted that following the meeting, the stakeholders had agreed that NNPC should carry out necessary sanctions on any marketer found selling petrol above approved price including the refusal to sell PMS to stations or depots.

He equally noted that the NNPC would carry out necessary sanctions allowed by law on any defaulting depot owner to ensure that Nigerians would continue to buy the product at the approved price.

He, however, apologised for the pains Nigerians were experiencing at fuel stations and appealed to consumers to avoid panic buying and to buy only the quantity they needed at fuel outlets. (NAN)