Fuel scarcity: Stations will operate longer hours to aid supply – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, said fuel stations are to operate longer hours for supply and distribution of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol.

It called on fuel stations to aid availability of the product in view of the current tight situation.

The NNPCL said the turnaround period of PMS trucking is also elongated to ease the situation being witnessed.

The Executive Vice President, Downstream, Mr Dapo Segun, said this on Monday in Abuja during a joint inspection of stations by the officials of NNPCL and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA.

NAN reported that NNPCL and NMDPRA embarked on a joint monitoring of the supply and distribution of fuel stations in the FCT and across the country to ensure that queues disappear.

NNPCL had said that fuel queues in the FCT and parts of the country were as a result of disruption of ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of fuel between mother vessels and daughter vessels resulting from recent thunderstorms.

It said adverse weather conditions, including rainstorm and lightning, had also affected berthing at jetties, truck load-outs and transportation of products to filling stations, causing a disruption in station supply logistics.

Speaking during the inspection, Segun said there was a gap in ship-to-shore discharge of PMS which he described as a volatile liquid, adding that during thunderstorms it could not be discharged rather it had to suspend ship-to-shore movement.

“This also affected the loading of trucks at the depot too because of safety reasons, so we have to suspend all that during thunderstorms and that’s why you see this tightness.

“Though we have a challenge over the bad portions of motorways which deteriorated due to rains and flood across the country, we will ensure that we are loading out all through the weekend and that we are mobilising trucks.

“We are getting fuel stations to run for longer hours and we are getting marketers to collaborate and share stocks. Rather than have a station with more trucks, they can release those trucks to other stations for circulation,” he said.