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Tag: NNPC

  • NEITI to NNPC: account for $16.8bn NLNG dividends

    NEITI to NNPC: account for $16.8bn NLNG dividends

    What became of the $16.8 billion Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) dividends in the custody of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)?

    That is the big question the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) wants the NNPC to answer immediately.

    The transparency initiative in its 2015 Oil and Gas Industry Audit Report released yesterday in Abuja said the NNPC confirmed receipt of the payments but has no evidence of remittance into the Federation Account.

    The watchdog organisation also said Nigeria’s oil and gas revenues plunged from $54.5 billion in 2014 to $24.8 billion in 2015, while oil production plummeted from 798 million barrels in 2014 to 776 million barrels in 2015.

    The report similarly shows that Nigeria recorded a net loss of over $723 million through the Offshore Processing Arrangement (OPA) adopted by the Federal Government in 2015 to supply refined petroleum products in the country.

    The arrangement, which was introduced by the NNPC during the Jonathan administration, involved the allocation of crude oil to select indigenous and foreign oil traders under agreed swap contract terms in exchange for refined products for local consumption.

    It said: “In 2015, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) paid $1.07 billion as dividend, interest and loan repayment to NNPC, broken down as follows: $1.04 billion as dividends, $3.1 million as interests, and $29.1 million as loan repayment.

    “This brings to a total of $16.8 billion NLNG’s payments to NNPC for the period 2000 to 2015. The payments are for the loan grant to NLNG and for the 49 per cent stake that the government holds in the company.”

    “While NNPC has always confirmed receipt of the payments, it has never shown evidence of remittance to either the Federal Government or to the Federation Account.

    “NNPC maintains that it has authorization from the presidency to hold the dividends in trust and utilize as directed by the government.

    ”NEITI recommends that NNPC should provide documentary evidence of the authorization to hold the money in trust and to give account of the expenditure from and the status of the $16.8 billion collected in 16 years.”

    It put the total outstanding revenue from the sector as at 2015 at $3.7 billion and N80 billion, while losses incurred stood at $2.2 billion and N60 billion, and un-reconciled revenues put at N317 billion.

    The organisation added: “Beyond providing a snapshot of what transpired in 2015, this report reveals money to be recovered, leakages to be blocked and urgent reforms to be undertaken.

    ”The most critical take-away is the need to expedite, expand and sustain reforms in this still critical sector of national life.”   

    The report shows that Nigeria suffered a 54.6% decline in oil revenues but only a slight 2.7% fall in oil production.

    This development was attributed to “drastic reduction in the unit price of crude oil in the global market.”

    The yearly average price of crude oil per barrel tumbled from $101.91 in 2014 to $52.16 in 2015.

    Oil and gas revenues have been declining since 2011 when total revenues peaked at $68.4bn.

    A five-year analysis in the report reveals that revenues declined by 8%, 7.7% and 6% in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. However, the decline leapt to double digits in 2015 when total revenue dwindled by more than half.

    Total oil production also dropped but not by much: from 798 million barrels in 2014 to 776 million barrels in 2015.

    The report attributed the decline to oil theft and militancy.

    However, total gas production went up by 20.23% from 2, 593,090 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf) in 2014 to 3, 250, 667 mmscf in 2015. The jump by a fifth was on account of the combined effect of increase in gas utilization and decline in gas flaring.

    A total of 780 million barrels of oil was lifted in 2015, about four million barrels higher than the quantity produced with the balance drawn from previous years.

    Of the 780 million barrels, the companies lifted 467 million barrels while NNPC lifted 313 million barrels. NNPC’s liftings were split almost evenly between Federation Export and Domestic Crude Allocation, which accounted for 159.4 million barrels and 153.9 million barrels respectively.

    However, only 8.7 million barrels or 5.6% of crude oil allocated for domestic consumption went to the refineries in 2015 on account of the dysfunctional state of the refineries.

    It noted that the volume of crude oil declared lost to theft by 13 operators in 2015 was 27.1 million barrels.

    Continuing, the report said: “Though this amounted to only 3.5% of total oil production, the loss was valued at $1.4 billion. PPMC also declared loss of crude worth $25 million, bringing the total declared losses to $1.45 billion.

    This brings the established loss to theft from 2011 to 2015 to a total of 113.1 million barrels valued at $11billion. Also, PPMC declared losing products worth N56.4 billion, broken down as follows: N52 billion for losses on petrol, N3.8 billion for losses on diesel, and N123 million for losses on kerosene.

    “Deferred production on account of sabotage or repairs came to 57 million barrels. NEITI reiterates its call for effective and adequate metering infrastructure and enhanced security of our oil and gas assets.”

    NEITI recommended close monitoring of the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement that replaced the OPA to ensure the country is not being shortchanged. It also called for government to recover the $498m OPA liabilities from the affected companies.

    ”From the report, NPDC (the upstream arm of NNPC) reduced its legacy liabilities from $1.45 billion and N80 billion in 2014 to $757 million and N68 billion in 2015. However, NPDC incurred liabilities of $822 million and N9.6 billion in 2015, bringing its total liabilities at the end of 2015 to $1.5 billion and N78 billion,” it said.

  • Buhari orders NNPC not to hike fuel price

    Buhari orders NNPC not to hike fuel price

    President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to ensure the pump price of fuel is not increased above the current price of N145 per litre.

    The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed this to State House correspondents after observing jumaat service with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, any marketer found hoarding fuel or selling above the official price will be punished.

    He said: “I’m happy to report that we have tamed the monster that reared its head as a result of the rumoured price increase about three weeks ago.

    “Fortunately that rumour instigated a lot of marketers to be very greedy and they decided that their fellow citizens should not enjoy the Christmas holiday and New Year with ease. They decided to profiteer by hoarding and diverting products.

    “At the beginning I did address the press, telling the world that we have sufficient products that would last us 30 days through the New Year into January but because the marketers wanted to inflict harm and pains on fellow citizens, they decided to hoard products, divert them and in some cases even smuggle products out of the country.

    “This has been tamed by the actions we took and I personally led the war around Abuja and other teams led the war in Lagos and other parts of the country.

    “As of this morning, I have gone round the Abuja metropolis and I have seen that the queues have reduced significantly to almost normal level and few motorists that I heard speaking on a morning programme concerning what I have seen said they have not spent up to 30 minutes to fuel their car.

    “So the monster has been tamed in Lagos, the situation has been brought into normalcy as far as two days ago and we are also achieving the same thing in all other cities.

    “I promise that we have sufficient products that would last us for the next 30 days and we keep bringing in 50 per cent over and above our normal consumption into the country. And vessels have been lined up, at the moment I have eight vessels discharging products at various ports around the country.

    “So Nigerians should enjoy the New Year and that Mr. President’s directive and guidance which has been very helping has been executed and normalcy has returned.

    “Those marketers that have hidden products in odd locations you better bring them out and sell to the public at N145 per liter maximum. If NNPC sold it to you at N133.28, you have sufficient margin within that ambit to be able to supply and sell to the public at maximum N145 per liter.”

    “The NNPC are selling at N143 per liter so you should be able to sell at N145 per liter. If you go above that, the regulator, DPR and PPPRA with the support of law enforcement agencies particularly the civil defence, will make sure that the products are confiscated and given free to the public.

    “This is the directive that we are working on by Mr. President and is being executed to the later. Bring them out and sell these products, we don’t have any shortage and we are making massive loadings.

    “Normally we should be able to have 850 trucks to satisfy the National consumption but as at yesterday we loaded 1,750 trucks to go around the country. So we will continue massive load out until we reached the former position whereby all the stations will have products and truck siding.” he said.

  • Archbishop urges government to prioritise welfare of Nigerians in 2018

    Archbishop urges government to prioritise welfare of Nigerians in 2018

    The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev Dr. Alfred Adewale Martins, has urged the Federal and State Government to prioritise the welfare of every Nigerian citizen in 2018.

    Martins made the appeal in his New Year message released on Friday.

    “The low quality of lives that characterised most of the year 2017 led to untold hardships and alarming illegal migration of able-bodied Nigerians to Libya and European countries.

    “The Federal and State governments should wake up to the reality that the electorate – the citizens of this country to whom they campaigned and who voted them into power – deserve better quality of lives in the year 2018 and beyond,” he said.

    Martins also urged political leaders to make concerted effort to restructure the country towards the path of true federalism.

    “As Nigerians, we have every cause to thank God for seeing us through the difficult year 2017.

    “We went through very challenging situations both economically and politically, yet it has pleased the Almighty God to continue to keep us as one and indivisible entity.

    “But we must tell ourselves the gospel truth; the year 2017 was not a very happy one for most Nigerians.

    “Many state governments failed in their responsibilities to their citizens; workers salaries were not paid; unemployment and insecurity were at an all-time high.

    “The Federal Government too did not perform better. It is yet to deliver on many of its electoral promises, including restructuring of the country.

    “In this New Year, leadership at all levels should wake up and be alive to their responsibilities,” he said.

    Martins also urged the electorate to be more discerning.

    The Archbishop scored the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and its subsidiaries low for failing to provide adequate petroleum products during the festive period.

    He said this added to the sufferings of the already impoverished citizens of the country.

    The cleric urged the Federal Government to approach the problem confronting the petroleum sector holistically by considering building of new refineries.

    He said this was better than constantly importing refined products, even though the country is a major producer of oil.

    “So much money has been put into Turn-Around-Maintenance (TAM) over the years without anything to show for it.

    “Licences have been given to private entrepreneurs over the years but we have not seen that making any impact on the lives of Nigerians.

    “Government needs to ensure that the bottle-necks to the success of those initiatives are removed and if there are people not making it work, government should have the moral courage to remove them also,” he said.

    The cleric urged Nigerians to remain steadfast in prayers for the continuous peace and unity of the country.

    He called on the political class to exhibit more transparency, accountability, and selflessness in the New Year.

    Martins said that the present hardship being experienced across the country makes it incumbent on them to re-appraise the huge cost of governance at all levels and make the necessary adjustments for the good of all.

  • Ex-Petroleum minister David-West blames NNPC

    Ex-Petroleum minister David-West blames NNPC

    One time Petroleum Minister Prof. Tam David-West yesterday blamed the fuel scarcity on high level of corruption and fraud in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) .

    He told our reporter that he was shocked that the management of the NNPC continued to allow fraud and corruption in the organisation.

    Describing the fuel crisis as self-made, Prof. David-West said: “Why should the NNPC buy crude oil at dollar price. Is dollar Nigeria’s currency . It is like a fisherman telling his wife to buy fish from the market so that they can eat. It is as stupid as that. This is the fraud and corruption going on in NNPC.”

    He said: “What we need now is good leadership , transparency and good management . And that is the only way out of this recurring fuel crisis.

    ” What we need is good management and integrity. We have good people and very competent hands, but we must put the interest of the country at heart not that of yourself .

    “You cannot love yourself and love Nigeria at the same time . If you want to serve your country, you must first purge yourself of personal interest , then we will have less problems in this country.”

    The retired Virology Professor said “People are suffering. I read it in the papers that fuel is selling above N200 per litre . It is criminal. ,Fuel belongs to the country, why should the country suffer . I said it that there is nothing like fuel subsidy .but they made him (Buhari) to believe that they are removing subsidy. How can you remove what does not exist.

  • NNPC indicts marketers for failure to import fuel

    NNPC indicts marketers for failure to import fuel

    The blame game over the crippling fuel situation continued yesterday.

    On Tuesday, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) blamed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for the shortage, claiming that its members’ “depots are empty” despite the NNPC’s claim that it had excess products to supply.

    Yesterday, the NNPC described the DAPPMA’s statement as “unfortunate”.

    In a statement, the oil giant said: “The NNPC wishes to affirm that it has supplied appreciable volume to DAPPMA, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to rid the challenges currently being experienced in the supply and distribution of petroleum products in the country.

    “NNPC regrets that DAPPMA which members had taken receipts of products from Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC and owe the company to the tune of N26.7billion as at December 21, 2017, has the audacity to indict NNPC unjustifiably.”

    It added that the statement by DAPPMA that the problem in the supply of products was due to the inability of the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) partners of NNPC to deliver on their business obligations is unfounded and self-indicting as many of DAPPMA members patronise DSDP international counterparts as the corporation.

    “Despite the concession by the government giving access to DAPPMA to obtain FOREX at an official rate of N305 per dollar for PMS import, their members have not been able to do so, leaving NNPC as the sole supplier of PMS to the Nigerian market.

    “The NNPC assures the public that despite the increase it effected in the supply of PMS in the December 2017, it has nonetheless, programmed to supply 1.2billion litres of the white products in January 2018, translating to about 40million litres of PMS supply per day. Ordinarily, Nigeria consumes about 700 trucks (about 27million – 30million) litres per day.

    “Despite the current challenges, Nigerians are reassured that there is no plan to increase PMS pump price above N145/litre and that NNPC will continue to maintain ex–depot price of N133.28/litre which guarantees the pump price not exceeding the N145 per litre capped by the government.

    “All stakeholders are implored to support the efforts of government to bring a speedy end to the current fuel distribution challenges being experienced in parts of the country as this is not the time to play the blame game.”

    DAPPMA declined to react to the NNPC’s indictment.

    Its Executive Secretary Olufemi Adewole told our reporter last night: “We will respond at the appropriate time.”

  • NNPC, DPR intensify clampdown on errant stations 

    NNPC, DPR intensify clampdown on errant stations 

    A team of Nigerian National Petroleum  Corporation  (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) officials, led by NNPC Group Managing Director Maikanti Baru, yesterday continued its unscheduled visits to filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) suspected to be involved in underhand dealings.

    The visits, facilitated by the operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), led to the clampdown on a notorious outlet in Kubwa District where petrol was being sold at N250 per litre, a price well above the approved retail price of N145/litre.

    The NNPC GMD ordered an on-the-spot dispensing of the product in the storage tank free to motorists in conformity with extant sanction for such misdemeanour .

    NNPC’s Group General Manager (Public Affairs) Mr. Ndu Ughamadu told reporters yesterday that Baru said with the Presidency’s directive for security agencies to tackle smuggling of petroleum products, cross-border activities and diversion of products would be curtailed, thus allowing Nigerians to benefit from the massive injection of fuel in the last few weeks.

    Also yesterday, the NNPC announced the temporary suspension of products dispensing at its mega station on Lagos Road, Port Harcourt, due to a fire which occurred near the station.

    The fire resulted from a Toyota Camry car which exploded outside the station.

    Although the fire did not affect the station, the corporation noted that it was imperative to suspend operations to enable security agencies clear the traffic at the scene.

  • How NNPC caused fuel scarcity – Marketer

    How NNPC caused fuel scarcity – Marketer

    An oil and gas merchant, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, has attributed the persistent scarcity of petrol to monopoly of the product by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    Iheanacho, also the Chairman, Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd., told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday that the inability of NNPC to create a window for private importers to import petrol also contributed to the scarcity.

    According to him, the current shortage in fuel importation gap was caused by the landing cost margin of N171 per litre and the selling cost pegged at N 145 per litre.

    Iheanacho said that this was not realistic for marketers to import and sell at that rate.

    “The selling of the product at N145 per litre is no longer feasible with the current exchange rate.

    “Shortage of foreign exchange and increase in crude prices have made it unprofitable to import petrol and sell same at N145 per litre.

    “The problem is that importation of petrol is being handled, almost 100 per cent, by NNPC, while private importers backed out because the increase in crude price has made the landing cost high,” he said.

    Iheanacho said that the marketers’ huge debts of over N800 billion had also contributed to their inability to import petrol.

    He said that most independent marketers had closed their companies due to inability to pay their workers.

    Iheanacho urged the Federal Government to settle all the outstanding debts owed marketers since 2015.

    According to him, commercial banks have started taken over the property and tank farms of some companies that could not pay back their loans.

    NAN reports that loading of petrol had commenced in Apapa.

    Visit to Apapa on Tuesday showed that hundreds of trucks were on queue waiting to load the product at Total, Forte Oil, Oando Plc, MRS, NIPCO and other private depots.

    NAN Correspondent who monitored the fuel situation in Lagos metropolis reports that long queues of motorists still persist in many filling stations in the metropolis.

    In areas like Ikorodu, Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Oshodi, Ajegunle, Ikotun, Bariga and Sango-Ota, some stations were still selling petrol between N180 and N200 per litre.

    In Ikorodu area, many filling stations were selling at N200 per litre, while only few were selling at the official price.

    Commercial bus operators increased their fares by more than 100 per cent, claiming that they bought petrol above the official price of N145 per litre.

    NAN reports that the transport fare from Ikorodu Garage to CMS has increased from between N300 and N350 before the scarcity, to N1000.

    Also, from Epe to Ketu, passengers were being charged N1,500 against the N700 they were charging before the scarcity, while the fare from Ketu to Costain climbed to between N300 and N500.

  • NNPC: petrol subsidy now N26 per litre

    NNPC: petrol subsidy now N26 per litre

    •Fuel crisis to end in two days, says Baru

    Petrol is being subsidised to the tune of N26 per litre, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Managing Director Maikanti Baru said yesterday.

    According to him, the landing cost of petrol (PMS) is N171 per litre;  it is being sold at the pump at N145 per litre – a difference of N26.

    Baru told reporters in Abuja that the consumption of PMS had risen to over 50 million litres per day, due to hoarding and diversion.

    He said the product was being smuggled across the borders because of the price disparity that exists between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries.

    Baru said the Cost, Insurance and Freight price of PMS is $620 per metric tonne, adding that at N305 to a dollar, the landing cost translates to N171 per litre.

    The Federal Government has approved preferential and speedy treatment for vessels carrying petrol, to end the lingering scarcity, according to the NNPC boss.

    The Navy, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Customs and Excise and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) are said to be expediting the clearance of fuel vessels and anchorage services to facilitate speedy product transfers to various depots, including during weekends and public holidays.

    The NNPC helmsman noted that President Muhammadu Buhari was deeply concerned about the fuel crisis and had ordered all stakeholders, including security agencies, to ensure a speedy resolution of the situation.

    The NNPC, he said, has begun a 24-hour loading and sales operations at all depots and its mega stations across the country.

    “Major marketers were also advised to carry out 24-hour operations, most of who have been complying. This has increased load-out from the depots significantly and continuous sales at the filling stations nationwide,” Baru noted.

    He affirmed that in addition to the regular supply circle, the NNPC had programmed the delivery of additional 300 million liters in December 20l7 and January 2018 to beef up national reserves to 45 million litres per day, well above the normal consumption requirement of between 27 and 28 million litres per day.

    He added that in the last two weeks, the national truck-out capacity had strengthened up to an average of l,500 trucks, about 52 million litres per day, which, he explained, was higher than the normal consumption of 850 trucks per day.”

    The NNPC boss said at present, 13 vessels, with an average capacity of 650 million litres, were discharging the commodity at ports across the country, noting that three vessels with the commodity were coming in before the end of the week, bringing the combined quantity of the product in depots to 814 million litres of petrol till the end of the month.

    He added that 14 shuttle tankers, with a combined capacity of 187 million litres of the commodity, would be discharging the product at various destinations across the country in the next three days.

    In addition to the importation of the product, Baru noted that the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries were contributing about one million litres per day and 2.8 million litres per day of PMS. He said since the fuel crisis began, both refineries had contributed about 61 million litres.

    To ensure the speedy resolution of the crisis, Baru said the NNPC had activated the ‘Fuel War Room’, comprising NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA and Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF.

    The team is coordinating all interventions for supply and distribution of PMS nationwide. With the support of security agencies, the team is already working round the clock to ensure a speedy resolution of the current fuel situation.

    With all these measures, Baru said, and if full compliance is achieved, the crisis would end within the next two days, adding that efforts were in place to ensure that the crisis did not go beyond this week.

    Baru also accused black marketers of sabotaging efforts to end the fuel crisis, stating that most of the peddlers permanently put their vehicles on queues at petrol stations, and after purchasing, discharge the products into containers and return to join the queues.

  • FAAC reports NNPC to NEC over missing $1.4b remittance

    FAAC reports NNPC to NEC over missing $1.4b remittance

    There is $1.486 billion generated from gas sales from the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) divested assets between January 2013 and December 2016?

    The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have not been able to trace the cash.

    According to documents in possession of The Nation, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) reported that the amount was paid into the Federation Account but a scrutiny of the account by FAAC showed that it was never paid.

    FAAC set up a sub-committee to investigate the issue and it was reported that “the same figure was captured by DPR for which the sum of $114.45 million was ascertained as Royalty. …NNPC/NPDC requested that the sum of $1.486 billion should be considered as part-payment for the Good and Valuable consideration of the NAOC divested assets that were valued at $1.540 billion, which the Ad-hoc Committee disagreed on the premise that there was need to verify the amount claimed by NNPC.”

    According to the report submitted to FAAC on December 16,  “the chairman (of the sub-committee) reported that out of the established NLNG Gas Sales value of $1,165,827,482.74 for the period under consideration, a total of $85,111,629.90 was transferred to MCA Escrow Account, leaving a balance of $1,080,715,852.94 as the amount paid into the Federation Account.”

    FAAC was also informed that NNPC paid another $126,753,615.34 into the federation account as NLNG-NAOC gas sales supplementary reconciliation invoices for the period, thus bringing the total amount paid by NNPC/NPDC to $1,207,469,468.28 and not $1,486,621,856.04 as earlier claimed by the oil giant.

    The sub-committee chairman reported that it “upheld that the amount established as earlier paid to the Federation Account be netted off the Good and Valuable Consideration of $1.540 billion, leaving outstanding Good and Valuable Consideration for the NAOC assets to stand at $322,530,531.72,” according to the document.

    FAAC, therefore, asked NNPC to expedite action on the reconciliation of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) to enable the sub-committee conclude its exercise.

    Also, the FAAC has confirmed that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) is owing the Federation Account N1,313,915,561,688.39 (January 2010 to December 2016).

    To recover the debt, FAAC has reported NNPC to the National Economic Council (NEC), which is headed by the Vice President for its failure to remit NPDC’s indebtedness to the federation account.

    FAAC resolved to report NNPC to NEC in view of its refusal to fulfil its promise to make the money available for distribution during the last FAAC meeting.

    The Director, Home Finance, Federal Ministry of Finance, was directed to compile NNPC’s infractions for NEC for sanctions.

  • FG petrol subsidy now N26 per liter

    FG petrol subsidy now N26 per liter

    The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Maikanti Baru, on Sunday disclosed that the current Landing Cost of petrol is N171 per litre, meaning that at N145 per litre, the Federal Government is currently paying a subsidy of N26 on a litre of the commodity.

    Speaking with reporters in Abuja, he said that the normal consumption of PMS in Nigeria had risen to over 50 million litres per day, due to hoarding and diversion, mainly as a result of cross-border smuggling, due to the PMS price disparity that exists between Nigeria and its neighbours.

    Commenting on the Landing Cost of PMS, Baru said the Cost, Insurance and Freight price of PMS was $620 per metric tonne, adding that at N305 to a dollar, the landing cost translates to N171 per litre.

    Baru said the Federal Government has given approval for preferential and speedy treatment to be given to vessels carrying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also called petrol, to end the lingering crisis in Nigeria.

    According to him, the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Customs and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA are currently expediting the clearance of fuel vessels and anchorage services to facilitate speedy product transfers to various depots including during weekends and public holidays.

    The NNPC helmsman noted that President Muhammadu Buhari is deeply concerned about the fuel crisis and had ordered al stakeholders involved, including security agencies to ensure a speedy resolution of the situation.

    In addition, he disclosed that the NNPC had commenced a 24-hour loading and sales operations at all depots and its mega stations across the country.

    “Major marketers were also advised to carry out 24-hour operations, most of whom have been complying. This has increased load-out from the Depots significantly and continuous sales at the filling stations nationwide,” Baru noted.

    He affirmed that in addition to the regular supply circle, the NNPC had programmed the delivery of additional 300 million liters in December 20l7 and January 2018 to beef up national reserves to 45 million liters per day, well above the normal consumption requirement of between 27 and 28 million liters per day.

    He also declared that over the last two weeks, the national truck-out capacity has been beefed up to an average of l,500 trucks, about 52 million litres per day, which he explained, was higher than the normal consumption of 850 trucks per day.

    Furthermore, the NNPC boss stated that currently, 13 vessels, with an average capacity of 650 million litres, are discharging the commodity at different ports across the country, while noting that three vessels with the commodity are coming in before the end of the week, bringing the combined quantity of the product in depots to 814 million litres of petrol till the end of the month.

    He added that 14 shuttle tankers, with a combined capacity of 187 million litres of the commodity would also be discharging the product at various destinations across the country in the next three days.

    In addition to the importation of the product, Baru noted that the Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries are currently contributing about one million litres per day and 2.8 million litres per day of PMS to the country’s fuel supply respectively, adding that since the fuel crisis began, both refineries had contributed a total of about 61 million litres.

    Also, to ensure the speedy resolution of the crisis, Baru disclosed that the NNPC had activated the ‘Fuel War Room’, comprising the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF.

    He said the team is tasked with the responsibility of coordinating all intervention activities for supply and distribution of PMS nationwide, adding that with the support of security agencies, the team, with the support of Security Agencies, is already working round the clock to ensure a speedy resolution of the current fuel situation.

    He explained that with all these measures, and if full compliance is achieved, the crisis would end within the next two days, adding that efforts have been put in place to ensure the crisis did not go beyond this week.

    Baru also accused black marketers of sabotaging efforts to end the fuel crisis, stating that most of the peddlers, permanently put their vehicles in queues at petrol stations, and after purchasing, discharge the products into containers and return to join the queues.