Aba depot receives 10m litres of PMS

Aba depot of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has received 10 million litres of premium motor spirit (petrol) from the Port Harcourt Refinery, an indication that the ongoing fuel scarcity will soon abate in Aba and other South-East cities.

BusinessDay gathered that loading of petroleum products from the depot would begin this week, as over 10 million litres of products were said to be awaiting distribution at the depot.

This development is also an indication that the 54-kilometre Port Harcourt – Aba pipeline is safe.

Kennedy Azodeh, executive director, UTM Offshore Limited, the contractor handling the security and maintenance of the said pipeline route, explained that his company sealed about 1000 points damaged by vandals.

He affirmed that Port Harcourt – Aba pipeline was very safe now, but that pumping from Aba to Enugu, would be effected soon when logistics were made available.

The Port Harcourt Refinery resumed operations last week and had been producing between three to five million litres of petrol daily, Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC’s spokesman, said.

The Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries were shut down in January after vandals attacked the major pipelines connecting the refineries to crude oil terminals.

NNPC has four refineries – two in Port Harcourt, one in Kaduna, and another in Warri. They have a combined installed capacity to produce 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

“We expect Kaduna refinery to begin any time soon and we also have vessels discharging fuel and so, all these combined measures will bring down the situation,” Muhammad said.

Nigeria has been facing one of the worst fuel crises in recent times partly due to a government policy to increase NNPC’s import quota of refined petroleum products, and also partly due to the challenge by independent oil marketers to access foreign exchange.