Posted by By Obinna Ezeobi, Abuja on
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation lost 12 million barrels of petrol when it attempted to pump products from its Port Harcourt Refinery to the Aba and Enugu depots, the Acting Group Managing Director, NNPC, Alhaji Abubakar Yar'Adua said on Friday.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation lost 12 million barrels of petrol when it attempted to pump products from its Port Harcourt Refinery to the Aba and Enugu depots, the Acting Group Managing Director, NNPC, Alhaji Abubakar Yar'Adua said on Friday.
Giving an account of his one year in office, Yar'Adua said the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, a subsidiary of NNPC, pumped 20 million litres into the pipelines, but only eight million reached the destination.
At N70 per litre, the loss is about N840m.
Bemoaning the situation, the GMD said no sane business organisation would continue pumping products under such circumstances.
He indicated that he would meet with governors of the South Eastern states to discuss the situation with them and solicit their cooperation in combating the trend.
He said, 'We pumped 20 million litres from Suleja to Kano and we got 18.
'Maybe the security personnel we put at the eastern part of the country are securing the pipelines for themselves or maybe we are not paying them enough.
'It is costly to bridge products, but I cannot ask PPMC to continue pumping to the region.'
Yar' Adua commended the management of PPMC for striving to ensure that all parts of the country received adequate supply of petroleum products through the depots despite the occasional hiccups in the supply that were caused by factors external to the operations of NNPC.
According to the GMD, the distribution of products has also been facilitated by the establishment of mega filling stations in every state of the country, except in Bayelsa, where the location became contentious.
He stated, however, that his vision was for the operations of the mega stations to be expanded to neighbouring African countries like Niger Republic, Senegal and Benin Republic.
The GMD regretted the high cost of petroleum products in riversides towns like Calabar and Yenogoa, blaming the challenge on the difficulties encountered, while taking products there.
He added, 'We are hoping to ensure that the floating mega stations can reach all the nooks and crannies of the region so that they can have easy access to the products.'