Business

FG promises to end fuel queues next week, turns back petrol vessels from Belgium

Published

3 years ago

February 17, 2022

The Federal Government says the lingering fuel crisis resulting in long queues at filling stations will end next week.

It has also turned back five Nigeria-bound petrol-laden vessels from Belgium where the initial bad fuel was said to have been imported.

Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, disclosed this on Wednesday during a session with House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).

He also said the corporation had filed for damages against the suppliers of the off-spec fuel.

He stressed that the NNPC was doing everything to ensure product availability.

Already, he said that about 2.5 billion litres of PMS were being expected before the end of the month.

Kyari said, “For this current situation, I assure you that we have taken every necessary step to restore supply into this country.

“We have placed orders significant enough for us to cross into March, with at least 2.1 billion litres of PMS in our custody.

“The situation you’re seeing today, I can assure you that by next week, it will vanish, all things being equal.”

On why inspectors did not detect methanol, Kyari said: “It is not part of their requirements at the load port. So, we didn’t ask them to declare whether it contains methanol because it is not part of our specification.

“Let me make it clear that methanol is not contamination. It is a regular additive to PMS. In China, up to 15 per cent of PMS contains methanol.

“On its own, it is not a contamination. The key issue is handling methanol. If we knew, we will not accept this. Anytime methanol comes in contact with water, it emulsifies, it turns into a different chemical.

“We didn’t know until our inspecting agents, on 20th of January to be precise, called our attention to the fact that they had seen emulsification in some of the depots and this may be a cause of concern.

“That was how we went ahead to check all the deliveries in our hands from all the four vessels that had already been discharged to confirm that all of them contain methanol.

“We quarantined all the volumes wherever they were in depots transit and we were able to track them. We were able to trace all of them and quarantine them.

“Not only that. We are also expecting several other supplies to come from other sources.

“We checked their origin and confirmed that five other vessels are coming from the same shipping terminal that loaded this and we rejected all of them; they did not sail into our waters.”

He added: “We did not test for methanol both at the load port and by the NNPC and the regulatory authority. I was very clear on this.

“What they (importers) are saying is that ‘what I brought met your specification.’ But what they probably also did not know is that it contained methanol and that methanol originated from the loading terminal.

“It is a legal issue, but it is nowhere sustainable because we have also filed liquidated damages which they can pass on until it gets to the originating depot.

“The liquidated damages can be a legal process where you may not even be able to recover your possession.”

Kyari reassured Nigerians every necessary step has been taken to ensure supply sufficiency.

“Let me tell Nigerians that we have a robust supply plan. By the end of this month, we’ll have about 2.1 billion litres of PMS.

“What we call panic buying is a situation where people who usually go the filling stations to buy N2,000 worth now buy five times that volume and those with more than one car will bring out all their cars.

“That is why you see all these cars in the filling stations and it creates supply disruption.

“We are assuring Nigerians that we have a robust supply plan and there is no need to bring out all your cars. Just buy what you need because there are plans to address this situation.”

He expressed regret over the economic disruptions and hardship.

“We are very conscious of the consequences that will come with it – the queues that you are seeing, the disruption of the economic activities that are very obvious. We are aware of this.

“We regret this situation and it is completely unavoidable. We didn’t see it coming. I apologise to Nigerians that we didn’t see it coming.”

A member of the Committee, Adedeji Olajide, said NNPC’s ignorance about the PMS containing methanol was not an excuse, adding somebody must be held responsible.

Related Topics:Featured fuel crisis NNPC

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Business

Food price, transport fare hike push Nigeria’s inflation to 33.88%

Published

14 hours ago

November 15, 2024

Trends Admin

Food price, transport fare hike push Nigeria’s inflation to 33.88%

Rising cost of living based on the increase in food prices and transport fares among others has reflected in the latest inflation figures in Nigeria, put at 33.88 per cent.

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 33.88 per cent in October 2024, up from 32.7 per cent in September 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Friday.

Newstrends.ng observes that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has raised interest rates five times this year in an effort to rein in inflation.

The NBS in its latest report attributed the rise in inflation to increased transportation costs and higher food prices.

On a year-on-year basis, the rate was 6.55 percentage points higher than the 27.33 per cent recorded in October 2023, highlighting a substantial increase in inflation over the past year.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in October 2024 stood at 2.64 per cent, representing a 0.12 per cent increase from the 2.52 per cent recorded in September 2024

This indicates that the rate of increase in the average price level in October 2024 was higher than the rate of increase observed in September 2024.

Aviation

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight

Published

1 day ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

Disaster averted as bird strike hits Abuja-Lagos Air Peace flight

An Abuja-Lagos flight was on Thursday aborted following a bird strike on the airplane belonging to Air Peace, forcing the authorities to ground the aircraft.

The bird strike experienced in the early hours reportedly prompted a ramp return to ensure the safety of passengers onboard.

All the passengers quickly disembarked and were calmed down before they were moved into another plane for the one-hour journey.

A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft, or other airborne animal, while the aircraft is in flight, taking off, or landing. And it can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.

Air Peace in a statement by its Head of Corporate Communications, Ejike Ndiulo, said the bird strike occurred at 6:30am, and all passengers disembarked normally.

The statement read, “We wish to inform our esteemed passengers that our Abuja- Lagos 06:30 flight experienced a bird strike before take-off, prompting a ramp return as a safety measure. All passengers disembarked normally.

“We have deployed a replacement aircraft for the affected flight in order to minimize disruptions, thus ensuring that passengers continue their journeys promptly.

“We appeal for the understanding of our valued passengers impacted by this development, as well as those on other flights that may experience delays.

“At Air Peace, we are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and reliable air travel for all our passengers.”

Business

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

Published

1 day ago

November 14, 2024

Trends Admin

NNPC achieves 1.8mbpd crude oil production

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) and its partners have revved up crude oil and gas production to 1.8million barrels per day (mbpd) and 7.4standard cubic feet per day (scfd).

The company which announced this at a press briefing said the feat was achieved in compliance with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking on the development, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mele Kyari, congratulated the Production War Room Team that anchored the production recovery process.

“The team has done a great job in driving this project of not just production recovery but also escalating production to expected levels that are in the short and long terms acceptable to our shareholders based on the mandates that we
have from the President, the Honourable Minister, and the Board,” Kyari explained.

Giving details of the efforts of the Production War Room, the Chief War Room Coordinator and Senior Business Adviser to the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Lawal Musa, disclosed that the feat was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Joint Venture and Production Sharing Contract partners, the Office of the National Security Adviser, as well as government and private security agencies.