The Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC and its downstream subsidiary, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC has assured the nation that the on-going maintenance works at the Warri Refinery will not affect the stable supply of petroleum products, especially kerosene, as speculated in a section of the media. In a statement signed by the acting Group General Manager Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Tumini Green, the Corporation stated that it has enough stock of products to keep the country well supplied for the period the refinery will be under repairs. This reassurance is necessitated by the report in the media insinuating that there might be a dislocation in the supply of petroleum products, especially kerosene, as a result of the maintenance works at the Warri Refinery and an alleged illegal directive to evacuate kerosene from the Warri Depot. “We wish to state that the Corporation has enough petroleum products to keep the entire country wet until the repair of the unit that came down in Warri Refinery is effected. We also wish to clarify that there was no directive from any quarters whatsoever, directing the allocation of kerosene to anyone and or a politician illegally, as reported by a section of the print media. Petroleum products are sold in line with laid down sales policies and guidelines to marketers duly registered with PPMC,” Green stated. Throwing more light on the alleged illegal evacuation of kerosene from the Warri Refinery, Green explained that there was nothing illegal about the evacuation of kerosene by vessels as suggested by the report in the National Mirror and that the vessel which belonged to a marketer registered with the PPMC was only loading its assigned cargo which the company had paid for since March, 2013. “Warri Refinery is configured to evacuate kerosene and other petroleum products through trucking from the depot and by marine vessels through the jetties. Just as some oil marketing companies take their assigned product by trucks, others that have relevant facilities take theirs by vessels. The evacuation referred to in the story was carried out by a registered marketer who had paid for kerosene since March, 2013, and was duly programmed to take delivery of its consignment long before the Warri Refinery was shut down. Prior to the time when the marketer’s vessel started loading, we had pumped several million litres of Kerosene to the Benin Depot. We wish to reassure the public that we have sufficient petroleum products to keep the country wet. There was no protest anywhere around the depot by any of our registered marketers or stakeholders, so we are at a loss as to where the reporter got his story,” she explained.
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