Fuel shortage in Nigeria: Hope in sight?

Efforts by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corpo-ration (NNPC), and other private sector participants to find a lasting solution to the lingering fuel crisis has received a boost as Warri and Kaduna Refineries have commenced operation.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, confirmed this in a statement yesterday, saying that the Kaduna refinery fully came on stream on February 19, 2010.
“Two weeks earlier, the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company, WRPC came on stream after the re-commissioning of its vital units,” the statement said.
He said the Kaduna refinery currently produces Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO).
“I am glad to announce to Nigerians that the Turn Around Maintenance of refineries embarked upon by the NNPC is beginning to pay off as the Kaduna refinery fully came on stream last Friday and has stabilised at 60 per cent capacity,” he said.
Ajuonuma, who did not disclose the actual daily output of the different petroleum products, however, noted that all the primary units of the Kaduna refinery are back on stream.
This, he said, would go a long way in reducing importation of petroleum products into the country by the NNPC and other importers.
He also expressed optimism that with the refineries functioning, fuel queues noticed in some states of the federation would soon become a thing of the past.
“Already, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, a subsidiary of the Corporation has begun the evacuation and marketing of the petroleum products from the revamped refineries,” he said.
In line with the transformation programme of the NNPC, he said, all the refineries would be made to work as a truly commercial entity.
This, according to him, is to avoid a relapse in line with the determination of the NNPC to transform from a cost centre to a profit making entity.
The NNPC spokesman called on the organised labour and Nigerians to support the Federal Government's deregulation agenda, stressing that it was the only way out of the recurring fuel scarcity in the country.