NNPC Releases Additional 418m Litres of Petrol in Seven Days

•Buhari to kick off oil exploration in Nasarawa today

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) released 418 million litres of petrol between March 18 and 24, new data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has indicated.

The information showed that 59 million litres of the product were evacuated daily during the week, even as year-to-date daily average remained at 64.94 million litres during the period.

However, from the period between March 4 and 24, a total of 1.46 billion litres of petrol were evacuated to states, according to a THISDAY analysis, with 80.41 per cent of evacuation taking place at the 27 top loading depots with minimum evacuation of 5 million litres. The remaining depots evacuated only 19.59 per cent of total volume.

According to the data, top receiving states during the period were Lagos, where 1,957 trucks were dispatched, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) received 550 truckloads of fuel while Delta received 508 trucks of the product.

Also, between 11th and 17th of March, 488.94 million litres of fuel were evacuated across the states while from 4 to 10 March this year, the NNPC dispatched 558.83 million litres of fuel.

Nigeria has had prolonged fuel scarcity in recent times. The country does not refine a litre of the product in-country due to rundown refineries as a result of years of neglect.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, would today conduct the presidential flag-off of Ebenyi-A exploration well located at Obi Local government Area, Nasarawa state.

The exercise is expected to mark the exploration of crude oil in Nasarawa state by the NNPC, adding to Gombe/Bauchi and Kogi as places where oil is found in the northern region.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari had during a meeting with the Governor of Nasarawa state, Abdullahi Sule recently, said the project was expected to move fast since the world is quickly moving towards renewables.

“This work must be done very fast because the whole world is walking away from fossil fuels due to the energy transition. The earlier you go to market, the better for you.

“We have seen a great potential for finding hydrocarbon in Nasarawa state. We are very optimistic that it would be a successful exercise,” he had stated.

It is coming after the NNPC began prospecting for crude oil in more locations across the north, after discovering the commodity in Bauchi and Gombe states.

Some other prospective states where the NNPC is expected to discover oil include Niger, Sokoto, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, among others.