TO ensure adequate supply of petroleum products during the festive season, the Presidency is said to have ordered a massive importation of the commodities.
A source at the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), told The Guardian that four vessels stocked with petroleum products had discharged at the Atlas Cove Island in Lagos at the weekend.
Six other vessels with each bearing between 30,000 and 40,000 metric tonnes of products, the source added, had been shipped in and awaiting delivery.
Four of the six vessels were seen discharging products at the Atlas Cove when The Guardian visited.
It was learnt that the move was to forestall the scarcity of fuel during Christmas and the Eid-el-Kabir festivals. Besides, the source explained that the major marketers were not left out in the massive importation of the products.
The source noted that the NNPC held a crucial meeting with some oil marketing companies to alert them of the need to ensure the free-flow of petroleum products during the Yuletide.
According to him, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Abubarkar Yar’Adua, at the meeting warned the operators in the downstream sector that it was no longer business as usual, adding that the NNPC, in conjunction with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), would sanction any marketing company found to be hoarding fuel.
It was also learnt that what prompted the meeting might not be unconnected with a secret parley President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had with the NNPC boss to forestall any scarcity of fuel this time.
According to the source, the NNPC chief is doing his best to meet the targets set by the Federal Government for the oil and gas industry by 2010, especially in terms of enhanced production capacity and reserves.
Speaking with The Guardian at the weekend, Yar’Adua noted that if the targets were met, Nigeria’s global status would be greatly enhanced.
Yar’Adua further disclosed that the 50 per cent local refining capacity in the sector would be achieved soon, adding that the focus of the corporation was to ensure that the refineries were working at optimal level.
In addition, he said the NNPC had recorded remarkable progress in gas production, and that there had been increase in the global demand for gas, a development, he said, posed a great challenge for the industry.
The demand for gas, according to him, now stands at four billion cubic feet per day, and could hit 20 billion cubic feet daily by 2011. The GMD however identified funding as one of the biggest challenges facing the industry.
Also, the NNPC boss said that the corporation was committed to human resources development.
At the opening of an in-house capacity-building workshop for workers organised by the NNPC in Abuja, Yar’Adua said that the corporation attaches great importance to the development of its personnel.
The workshop involved skills acquisition on liquefied natural gas sales purchase agreement (LNG SPA), charter party agreement, upstream developments and negotiations strategies.
Dec182007