The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has dispelled fear of possible scarcity of petroleum products as the festive period approaches.
Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Maikanti Baru, who urged the company’s subsidiary, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), to re-strategise for profitability, also gave the assurance that there would be a hitch-free supply of petroleum products nationwide during the season.
Baru, who spoke at the inauguration of the board of directors of PPMC yesterday, insisted that the company must ensure steady supply of petroleum products even beyond the festive period.
Besides, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Downstream, and alternate Chairman of the Board, Ikem Obi, who also spoke at the occasion, was optimistic about the country’s downstream sector, stressing that the nation would never return to the era of products scarcity.
Managing Director of the PPMC, Umar Ajiya, said the resuscitation of depots in some parts of the country had contributed to the steady supply of products nationwide.
He assured that the company would be placed on the part of profitability, adding that other petroleum products would equally be made available alongside PMS (petrol).
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has said that plans are under way to prosecute any oil and gas firm in Nigeria that fails to comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act 2010.
The Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Simbi Wabote, who spoke yesterday at the seventh Practical Nigerian Content (PNC) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, hinted that the board would soon organise a sensitisation workshop on NOGICD for judges to kick-start the prosecution process.
While Wabote stated that the board has begun the systematic expansion of operations to cover midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry, the Akwa Ibom State governor, Emmanuel Udom, represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Etekamba Umoren, decried the continued stay away of oil firms from the Niger Delta.
In another development, Nigeria is expected to save about $120 million (N43.2 billion) in demurrage yearly following the commissioning of Oando’s Lagos midstream jetty yesterday.
The jetty, located at the Lagos Apapa Harbour, is expected to alleviate the perennial infrastructural hiccups being experienced in Apapa and eliminate the demurrage charges currently being incurred by petroleum marketers. It will also reduce discharge time from 21 to three days.
Chairman, OVH Energy, Wale Tinubu, said: “The Lagos midstream jetty was conceived as an innovative industry solution to the perennial challenges marketers faced in the importation of petroleum products.”
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