The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Friday asked Nigerians to disregard trending social media reports of an impending fuel scarcity due to purported refusal by some oil marketers to lift products from depots.
It explained in a statement from its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, that such reports were fabricated by mischief makers with intent to create undue panic in petrol supply and distribution across the country.
According to the corporation, it has over one billion litres of petrol in stock, with an additional 48 vessels of 50 million litres each expected to berth in the country for April 2019 alone.
Although some petrol service stations in Abuja, especially within Wuse 2, Central Business District (CBD) and Wuse Zone 4 were seen by THISDAY to have long queues of vehicles for petrol, the NNPC however stated that there was no need for such panic buying or hoarding of petrol because there was no product scarcity expected.
It also assured consumers of the product that the pump price of petrol was still N145 per litre. The corporation had earlier in the week cautioned depot owners or terminal operators not to sell petrol above the official ex-depot price of N133.28k per litre.
It stated that the subsisting ex-depot petrol price of N133.28k per litre was consistent with the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency’s (PPPRA) template and should be adhered to, adding that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) would move against operators that flaunt the approved ex-depot price.
