The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has expressed satisfaction with the measures so far taken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to restore normalcy in fuel supply.
The Minister said this while briefing journalists on Thursday, in Abuja, shortly after a meeting with the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mall. Mele Kyari.
He expressed optimism that with the steps so far taken by the NNPC to address the supply gap that was created as a result of the withdrawal from circulation of the methanol-blended petrol, Nigerians will soon start experiencing an improvement in fuel supply.
“This administration has done well as far as fuel supply is concerned. But of course, accidents do happen, and this is one of those accidents that was not foreseen.
“But I’m quite happy today to hear from the GMD and the Authority’s Chief Executive all that they are doing to ensure that this problem is brought under control.
“From what they have told me, I believe that in a matter of days, we will see that this problem will be totally back to normal.
“Everybody is putting every effort to ensure that we overcome the supply disruption and I want to really thank them and say that on my part as minister of state, I share their commitment and we will together do everything to make sure that we overcome this problem, Sylva said.
It will be recalled that Mal Mele Kyari had warned filling stations that are selling the petrol above the approved regulated price of between N162 and N165 per litre to desist from such practice, as the Company will not fail to sanction any marketer that is found to have inflated the price of Premium Motor Spirit.
Kyari assured Nigerians that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has sufficient stock of petroleum products for distribution across the country.
He said that there are over 1.7 billion litres of PMS which the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has in stock both on marine and on the Land.
Kyari further said that the current fuel queues at the filling station was as a result of panic paying and called on Nigerians to buy what they need.
He added that the NNPC is working assiduously with partners to ensure the product reaches every part of the country.
According to him “NNPC is further intensifying efforts to resolve distribution hitches being experienced in some parts of the country due to logistics issues.
“We have engaged depot operators to load product round the clock to accelerate the restoration of normal distribution.
“We have capacity now to load from all depots, we are currently running 24 hours loading from all our depots and we believe this will close the gap created by panic buying.
“We hope this will bring normalcy to the system soon. As the supplier of last resort, NNPC has continued to sustain adequate petroleum products supply and distribution to the Nation despite challenges associated with the unending waves of pipeline vandalism, product theft and Cross-border smuggling of PMS.
“In line with the existing laws of the land, NNPC Ltd is deeply committed to ensuring energy security for the country.”
