The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mallam Farouk Ahmed, has assured fuel consumer that the lingering fuel scarcity will end today (Thursday) with the arrival of 300 million litres into the country through six vessels ordered by the NNPC.
Ahmed also hinted that this is even as a 9,000MT vessel was being discharged at Apapa Port to major marketers including OVH, TotalEnergies, 11 Plc, Conoil and Ardova Plc.
He said: “As soon as the vessels complete discharging and start pushing products to oil marketers, the fuel queues in Lagos will disappear.
“Today, I am happy to say that loading has been going on in most of the depots because we have been able to identify, isolate and quarantine the limited amount of gasoline that was affected by the methanol volume that was discovered.
“We have vessels that have arrived in the country recently. At least six arrived in the last few days ordered by the NNPC, carrying a total volume of close to 300 million litres, just to close the gap created by those vessels we have withdrawn from the system.
“So, once these vessels complete discharging and start pushing the products to marketers, we have got that assurance from the marketers. Also, most of these vessels will also be providing volumes to most of the members of the key members of DAPPMAN”, Ahmed assured.
The current queues in fuel stations in major cities in the country were linked to the withdrawal of petrol with methanol quantities above Nigeria’s specification from the market across the country which created a supply shortfall.
