Queues Disappear As NNPC Pumps Extra 478.8 Million Litres Of Petrol Into Market

The daily demand for Premium Motor Spirit in Nigeria dropped in the first week of April to 68.39 million litres as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd moved 478.76 million litres of the product to petrol stations across the country.

Average daily evacuation dropped from 73.71 million litres a day between 25th to 31st March 2023 to 68.39 million litres between April 1 to April 7.

NNPC said in its weekly PMS evacuation report on Monday that the “total evacuation for the week 1st-7th April 2023 was 478.76 million litres.

“Average daily evacuation for the week was 68.39 million. Year to Date average was 65.85 million litres.”

The development is linked to the disappearance of queues across major cities following NNPC’s constant PMS evacuation to states and Abuja.

When the queues surfaced, the state-owned company promised to explore every option available to increase the distribution of the product.

Garba Deen Muhammad, the chief corporate communications officer, NNPCL in March reassured Nigerians of a robust supply of PMS.

He said the NNPCL planned to close the month of March with about 2.8 billion litres, equivalent to 47 days of sufficiency.

He said, “The appearance of pockets of queues in Abuja and some parts of the country, is largely due to restrictions in businesses and movement, to allow for the conduct of the presidential and NASS elections to enable Nigerians to exercise their civic right.

“However, operations have now resumed at the depots and trucks are being dispatched to various parts of the country. We expect normalcy to be restored in the next few days.”

THE WHISTLER can report that from 4th of March to 7 of April, a total of 2.39bn litres have been evacuated to states by the NNPC.

During the first week of April, Pinnacle Lekki maintain its lead as it evacuated 54.62 million litres of PMS, While NIPCO evacuated 33.68 million litres.

Lagos received 1,917 trucks, while FCT followed with 771 trucks.