Flood Market With Petroleum Products; FG Orders NNPC

20 May 2011

Worried by the lingering scarcity of kerosene and its attendant high cost of N165.00 per litre as against the pump price of N50, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke yesterday ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to bridge all supply gaps in the domestic fuel market. Government had said that the currently scarcity of kerosene is no longer acceptable to it.

The Minister also directed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to apply strong measures in sanitizing the fuel market.

Mrs Alison-Madueke, who addressed newsmen on the efforts of the federal government to use petroleum resources as a catalyst for industrialization, also directed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to intensify enforcement of caps on the retail prices of regulated products in the domestic market.

Although, the Minister accused middle men for the scarcity of the products, she said government has no excuse not to deliver on its promise of ensuring uninterrupted supply of petroleum products all year round.

Insisting that the prevailing high prices of kerosene in the country was artificially created by profiteering middlemen in the market, the Minister, who was in the company of heads of parastatals under her Ministry said, government would continue to intervene in the supply petroleum products in the domestic market to address the scarcity.

Under the arrangement, the NNPC through its subsidiary PPMC is to ensure that products are loaded out from the three refineries and the coastal jetties to all the nooks and crannies of the country while DPR has the mandate to activate compliance measures and all necessary control strategies to squelch the incidents of arbitrary pricing and sharp practices.

Already, the NNPC said, it has started increasing the volume of household kerosene allocation from 10 million litres to record 12 million litres per day to guarantee that the country is wet with kerosene.

The increased supply of kerosene, according to the corporation, is in excess of the national consumption level of about 10 million litres per day.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, stated that apart from increasing the daily volume of kerosene, the NNPC has raised a special monitoring committee on kerosene distribution.

The Managing Director of the PPMC, Prince Haruna Momoh, said the committee has the mandate to track the movement of kerosene from the refineries and coastal depots to the point of discharge through the tank farms.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke, who assured on government’s determination to conduct another round of Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) on the existing four refineries in the country said planned establishment of three new refineries form part of a large scale arrangement of the ministry to address the problem of products supply in the domestic market.

She said talks on the Greenfield refineries were still ongoing between her Ministry and Chinese investment partners, adding that feasibility study on the projects has been launched ahead of signing memoranda of understanding (MOU).

Other Greenfield projects planned under the national gas agenda, she said, would stimulate job creation in the country, provide ancillary business opportunities with host community stakeholders and churn out products that would form inputs in the nationa’s manufacturing sector.

The projects, which are being pursued with foreign investors, she said, would include world class fertilizer plants and sundry petrochemical plants.

On current reports concerning strains in the ministry’s relationship with Nigeria’s second biggest producer, Exxon Mobil, Mrs. Alison-Madueke said her office was merely bringing the American oil multinational to notice that its licensee renewal in 2009 was not properly executed and was therefore not in compliance with the provisions of the Petroleum Act of 1969.

The Act, she said, empowers the Minister of Petroleum Resources to cancel leases that are not properly executed.

However, the Minister noted that in view of the harmonious relationship with Exxon Mobil over the years and the substantial investments the company has made in Nigeria, “Government has taken the decision to invite Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to express interest in the grant of fresh leases.”

The much-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill, expected to stimulate rapid industrialization of the country may be assented by President Goodluck Jonathan next week.

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