The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has urged Nigerians to remain calm as the fuel scarcity experienced across the country will soon be resolved adding that Nigeria has Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) that could serve the nation for 20 days.
Farouk Ahmed, Head of the NMDPRA, stated this at a meeting with downstream industry stakeholders on Wednesday in Lagos.
According to him, six vessels carrying a total volume of close to 300 million litres arrived the country in the last few days. He added that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has began process to mitigate the fuel scarcity caused by the withdrawal of adulterated fuel across the country.
He also disclosed that there is a 9,000MT vessel that is currently about to discharge at the Apapa Port.
In his words, “Today, I am happy to say that loading has been going on in most of the depots because we have been able to identify, isolate and quarantine the limited amount of gasoline that was affected by the methanol volume that was discovered.
“We have vessels that have arrived in the country recently.
“At least six arrived in the last few days ordered by the NNPC carrying a total volume of close to 300 million litres just to close the gap created by those vessels we have withdrawn from the system.
“All in all, as of today, we have about 20 days sufficiency of PMS in the country. Our ideal days of sufficiency is 30 but the withdrawal of the vessel created the gap in our 30 days sufficiency.
“Again, with aggressive importation by the NNPC, this will be closed in a few days from the data we got from the NNPC’s import programme.
“Loading is also ongoing in most of the depots that have confirmed spec products so there is no need for panic. Hopefully by tomorrow or early Friday, Lagos will be cleared.”
