…As NNPC takes delivery of 300 million litres of petrol
The Federal Government has initiated the process to investigate the supply of adulterated petrol to the country, which has given motorists serious concerns in the last few days.
This followed a briefing on the matter provided to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who confirmed to newsmen yesterday that the aim is to get to the bottom of the matter.
Speaking after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council, (FEC), presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Sylva cautioned against drawing conclusions before the investigation is completed.
Asked whether the issue was discussed at the Council meeting and whether the suppliers will be punished, he said: “The issue did not come up in Council, but of course, you will recall I was here yesterday to brief Mr. President on the issue. I’m not in a position to disclose the identities of the companies, but there are some issues and we are actively tackling it.
The Minister assured that government will consider compensating those who may have been adversely affected by the bad fuel.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, (NNPC), Limited has imported and taken delivery of 300 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, to close the supply gap created in the country by the recent withdrawal of the adulterated product from marketers.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, disclosed this yesterday, in Lagos.
Ahmed said the 300 million litres arrived through six vessels ordered by the NNPC and had arrived in the country.
He said with the delivery of the 300 million litres of petrol, the fuel queues being witnessed in the country will disappear by today, Thursday.
Ahmed said there is a 9,000MT vessel that is being discharged at Apapa Port to major marketers including OVH, TotalEnergies, 11 Plc, Conoil and Ardova Plc.
He explained that as soon as the vessels complete discharging and start pushing products to oil marketers, the fuel queues in Lagos will disappear by Friday.
On the volume of petrol in store, he said that the country currently has petrol that can last for 20 days.
Recall that the NMDPRA had on Tuesday said that some limited quantity of petrol with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification were discovered in the supply chain.
