Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited, yesterday said it has discharged 28 million litres of petrol to the market to clear the present scarcity of the product in the country.
The company explained that the development 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.
The managing director of the company, Dr Bafred Audu 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 fuel.
Dr Enjugu said 1.7 million litres were released to the depot last Friday, while another 4.5 million litres were transferred to the depot for evacuation and distribution on Saturday and 4.08 million litres on Tuesday.
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.
Dr. Enjugu assured that the premier refinery is available to sustain its production and contribute to the nation’s petroleum products pool.
He said this will contribute in reducing the pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange demand through import substitution.
The MD applauded the efforts of the workforce of the refinery in the sustenance of its operations.
Meanwhile, fuel supply has drastically improved in Abuja and its environs following the increased truck out from 186 to 240 trucks on Tuesday.
NNPC said the supply would be sustained on Wednesday.
NNPC said 12 cargoes of Premium Motor Spirit were discharged in Lagos, Calabar and Port Harcourt.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mal. 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 PMS. 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,” Mal. Muhammad said.
Meanwhile, the NNPC has called on consumers of petrol not to engage in panic buying because the corporation has enough supply to go around the country.
The NNPC spokesman, Garba Deen Muhammad, in a statement said the current petrol shortage would soon be over, noting that the problem had been largely resolved in Lagos and the queues in Abuja are reducing by the day.
Panic buying, according to Muhammad, was what was making motorists to converge at particular filling stations thereby creating scarcity, especially in Abuja.
He said over 200 trucks laden with petrol had been supplied to Abuja and environs as at yesterday (Thursday) and that the trend would continue.
He appealed to motorists to be orderly while waiting to buy petrol and also called on marketers not to hoard the product.
Source: Daily Trust