Ejiofor Alike
Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited has announced that 28 million litres of petrol have been pumped into the domestic market to help address the current product scarcity that had crippled the economy.
This is coming as fuel supply has drastically improved in Abuja and its environs, following the increase in truck out by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from 186 to 240 trucks daily.
The Managing Director of the company, Dr Bafred Audu Enjugu, said in a statement yesterday that the rapid response was the product of a fast-track strategy aimed at optimising available capacity at the plant in an effort to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians groaning, under the biting fuel scarcity in the country.
Enjugu said the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCC) of the refinery had been running, while some products from the primary processing units had been blended to generate over 10.28 million litres of petrol.
He said 1.7 million litres were released to the depot last Friday, while another 4.5 million litres were transferred to the depot for distribution on Saturday and additional 4.08 million litres last Tuesday.
According to him, the refinery commenced a process of blending Crack C5 and Naphtha on Sunday leading to the generation of 17.3 million litres for immediate distribution.
Enjugu assured Nigerians that the premier refinery is available to sustain its production and contribute to the nation’s petroleum products pool.
This, he hopes, will contribute in reducing the pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange demand through import substitution.
He applauded the efforts of the workforce of the refinery in the sustenance of operations at the refinery.
Meanwhile, fuel supply has drastically improved in Abuja and its environs following the increase truck out from 186 to 240 trucks.
NNPC said 12 cargoes of petrol discharged in Lagos, Calabar and Port-Harcourt.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Garba Deen Muhammad, said the NNPC, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria MOMAN and the Independent Petroleum Marketing Association of Nigeria IPMAN are all trucking out petrol from their various marine and inland depots to stabilise the situation.
“The NNPC/NPMC is collaborating with the various relevant stakeholders in the hydrocarbon value chain to wet the nation with Petrol. This is in line with the resolve and mandate of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu to restore normalcy to the filling stations across the states of the federation,”Muhammad said.
He stated that more trucks were also being sent to Nassarawa, Kaduna and Niger States to reduce the demand in Abuja.
The NNPC Manager said 12 petrol other vessels laden with PMS have been lined up to ensure a seamless flow of petrol to all NNPC inland depots and other strategic reserves across the country.
“We wish to empathise with motorists across the country over the several hours spent on fuel queues in the past few weeks. We also want to reassure them that we are working tirelessly to ensure that fuel supply and distribution return back to normalcy. As the vessels discharge petrol, we will ensure that the products are trucked out immediately to forestall any form of fuel scarcity going forward,” he said
