The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has released about 67 million liters of Premium Motor Spirit to marketers, clearing queues for petrol in many parts of Abuja, Niger, and Nasarawa.
NNPC revealed that some of its 67 million litres daily supply of PMS was not only smuggled by trucks to neighbouring countries but through marine vessels.
Explaining the fuel supply data for the country since January 2022, during a meeting with stakeholders in Abuja, the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC, Mele Kyari, said, “Anytime we go down below 60 million litres of evacuation consistently for more than three days, we’ll have a crisis across the country.”
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He added, “We know that there may be no valid so-called consumption figure, but we know the evacuation figure. Anytime the evacuation figure goes below 60 million litres daily, you’ll have a crisis.
“Remember, early in 2022 when we had the contaminated fuel, evacuation came down to 56 million litres on average and we had a crisis. We managed to ramp up by adding volumes to the market to fill the gaps. So we achieved normalcy.
“I recollect, in October, when the flooding happened, trucks could not go to their destinations, particularly moving from the South into the North and our evacuation went below 60 million, and you can remember what happened.”
Kyari stated that since then, NNPC had done everything possible to keep the supply or evacuation above 60 million litres consistently, as he argued that there was no shortage of fuel going into the market, rather the products might be in the wrong destination.
“One thing that is also very practical is that Nigeria’s fuel is smuggled to other countries. This is not a secret. But it can only be done by either all of us in this room or people buying from us,” he stated.
Additionally, filling stations like Nipco, NNPC, Salbas and few other outlets on the busy Kubwa-Zuba Expressway were dispensing products to motorists and had no queues. But this was not the case on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, some of the filling stations on the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, such as Nipco, NNPC and Salbas, dispensed products without queues, unlike on Tuesday.
Additionally, some of the filling stations on the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, such as Nipco, NNPC and Salbas, dispensed products with no queues as well.
