Relief As Fuel Queues Disappear In Abuja, Lagos, Others

Residents of Lagos, Abuja and neighboring states within the Federal Capital Territory on Sunday heaved a sigh of relief following the disappearance of fuel queues at majority of the filling stations that dispensed the product.

It was observed that most filling stations in Abuja and neighbouring states resumed full operations late on Sunday after receiving petrol, a development that cleared the queues for petrol by motorists in the capital city and its environs.

Findings revealed that filling stations that had been shut for over a week due to supply gap, eventually opened for operations on Sunday morning.

Retails outlets in the satellite towns of Abuja such as Bwari, Lugbe, Kubwa, Zuba, Kuje and others that had experienced product shortage during the course of last week were seen dispensing petrol to motorists on Sunday.

The importation of off-spec petrol into the country had forced the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd to withdraw the product from the market.

The withdrawal of the methanol-blended petrol had led to supply gap in some parts of the country.

In a bid to accelerate nationwide distribution of Premium Motor Spirit which was earlier disrupted by the quarantine of methanol-blended petrol, the NNPC had last Tuesday begun a 24-hour distribution of petrol across the country.

The NNPC had in a statement on Tuesday projected that the fuel queues would disappear by the weekend.

It had assured Nigerians that it had adequate stock of over one billion litres of certified Premium Motor Spirit stock that is safe for use in vehicles and machineries.

The National Oil company had explained that the quarantine of the methanol blended petrol was a necessary step to safeguard its customers from the potential impact of this PMS grade on vehicles and machineries.

As part of its strategy to restock, the NNPC had stated that over 2.3 billion liters of PMS had been scheduled for delivery between now and end of February 2022.

This, the statement noted, will restore sufficiency level above the national target of 30 days.

The statement reads, “NNPC Ltd wishes to reassure Nigerians that it has put adequate measures in place to accelerate nationwide distribution of PMS earlier disrupted by the quarantine of methanol-blended petrol.

“The quarantine was a necessary step to safeguard our customers from the potential impact of this PMS grade on vehicles and machineries.

The NNPC had stated further that the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot Owners and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria have also commenced 24-hour loading and dispensing activities in some of their designated outlets.

“Furthermore, NNPC’s monitoring team is collaborating with the Authority (Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Petroluem Authority) and other security agencies to ensure smooth distribution of PMS nationwide.

“NNPC implores Nigerians to avoid panic buying as there is sufficient volume of PMS in-country and effort is being made to accelerate distribution to all filling stations,” the statement had concluded.

ENDS