NNPC says it has 80m litres of aviation fuel in reserve

AS local airlines groan over persistent scarcity of aviation fuel (Jet A1), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday debunked stories of product shortages, claiming it has over 80 million litres warehoused in storage facilities nationwide.

According to the Corporation, the jet A1 in store can last for 37 days, advis- ing the airlines not to panic.

A press statement by its spokesman, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, said the assurance became necessary to douse rumours in certain quarters that there was shortage of aviation fuel in the country.

It added that more cargoes of the product were imported within the period to meet local demand.

“NNPC, therefore, enjoins airline operators and other consumers of the product to discountenance rumours and go about their businesses without fear or distraction”, the statement noted.

Ughamadu urged marketers and other players in the sub-sector to desist from any action that could impede supply and distribution of the product, stressing that the Corporation would do everything within its powers to sustain seamless supply of petroleum products nationwide.

He called on Nigerians to remain vigilant and report anyone found engaging in product hoarding or diver- sion to the industry regulator, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), or to any law enforcement agency around them.

In the last one week, local operators said the product was scarce in most airports and where found, it was sold at exorbitant rates. They said the ugly scenario has horribly affected their schedules.

An airline source said that the price had also gone up from N200 to N220 to between N250 and N255 or N270 depending on the marketer.

It was gathered that Abuja and other airports up north had been worse hit as airlines had to prepay and wait to be allocated the product before their flight operations.

A source in one of the airlines alleged that marketers preferred to sell to airlines that were willing to higher.