NNPC imports 45 million litres of aviation fuel to forestall scarcity
…reiterates commitment to Brass, OK LNG projects
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday said it has taken steps to ensure adequate supply of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK), also known as jet fuel, with the importation of over 45 million litres of the product, aimed at curbing its scarcity and market crisis being suffered by operators in the Nigerian aviation industry.
Maikanti Baru, the group managing director of NNPC, said this when the management of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) visited him at the corporation’s headquarters in Abuja, according to a statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC’s group general manager, group public affairs division.
Baru added that the market crisis challenge in the Nigerian aviation sector had more to do with the inability of airlines to pay for the product upon the introduction of a cash-and-carry policy by marketers on account of the huge amount they were being owed by the airlines.
He also said that monetization of natural gas was a cardinal mandate of the corporation, and expressed NNPC’s commitment to carry on with its twin gas projects, which are Brass LNG and OK LNG.
Baru said the two projects were high priority gas ventures which promise to boost revenue to the Federal Government.
According to him, “we are still committed, as NNPC, to monetizing our natural gas. We have the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) which is at the moment monetizing about four billion standard cubic feet of gas on a daily basis (4 billion scf/d). We also have plans for Olokola LNG as well as Brass LNG.
“We have a little challenge with market windows for these projects which we are reviewing on a monthly basis. Once the appropriate market window opens up, we will quickly get more shareholders to join us for the projects,” Baru further explained.
The NNPC GMD said a meeting of Brass LNG stakeholders has been scheduled for early next year to see the way forward for the project.
Speaking further, the GMD further disclosed that apart from the LNG projects, NNPC was also working on gas monetization through aggressive enhancement of domestic gas supply for power generation and industrial use.
Dr Baru also lauded the management of NTA for its factual reportage of the corporation’s activities.