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Importation of petrol hasn’t stopped – NNPC

By BusinessNews Staff on October 22, 2013

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday said it had not stopped the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol.

It described media reports, which stated that it had stopped importing the product, as mere allegations.

The acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Ms. Tumini Green, in a statement, said petrol supply in the system was in line with its approved quota for the national demand with a view to ensuring seamless supply as the country approached the peak period in the last quarter of the year.

She stated that the NNPC, as the supplier of last resort, had the responsibility to maintain a strategic reserve with additional reasonable buffer in line with the nation’s energy supply policy.

An international newswire had on Thursday reported that the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company had suspended fuel importation because of excessive orders in the wake of the fuel subsidy scandal last year had created a petrol glut.

The PPMC is a subsidiary of the NNPC responsible for the supply of petroleum products to the domestic market.

The news agency had reported that the PPMC would not make purchases in November as it tried to work through 10.2 million barrels of surplus petrol waiting offshore.

Green, however, maintained that the corporation’s PMS stock holding was in tandem with the approved Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency’s allocation to the NNPC.

She emphasised that the stock level covered marine, inland and strategic stock.

The NNPC spokesperson stated that as of October 17, 2013, the marine stock offshore stood at 19 cargoes translating to 25.6 days’ sufficiency, which was part of the national strategic reserve.

[Punch]

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