By Obas Esiedesa
A report by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has indicated that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) imported 99.61 percent of total petrol imports into the country last year with Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria (MOMAN) importing just 0.39 percent of total imports.
A statement by PPPRA’s Executive Secretary, Abdulkadir Saidu showed that over 18 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) was supplied in Nigeria for the year 2019.
According to the report, NNPC was responsible for 99.61% of the total 19,175,737,226 litres of petrol that was imported while Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria (MOMAN) imported 0.39% in 2019. On the other hand, 166,332,185 litres of PMS was produced locally in the same year.
Other petroleum products imported into the country were 4,586,878,439 litres of AGO, 128,110,313 litres of HHK, 951,769 084 litres of ATK, 306,791,987 litres of Base Oil, 125,561,557 litres of Bitumen and 45,980,957 litres of LFPO.
Saidu explained that the total quantity of petrol supplied across the nation as at November 2019 was 18,623,992,092 litres with petrol average sufficiency stood at 40.68 days.
The agency disclosed that 1,612 vessels with different petroleum products docked in Nigerian waters last year.
Saidu disclosed that fiscalisation of imported products was efficiently carried out at sea ports by industry recognised cargo inspectors in conjunction with the PPPRA field staff at sea ports.
He emphasised the need for enhanced private participation in the refining business and the revamping of the nation’s refineries for improved production.
He commended the efforts of some petroleum marketers at sustaining the continuous development of the sector despite the inherent global economic challenges, stressing that this was evident in the number of new facilities that emerged in the downstream subsector of the petroleum industry in 2019.
Saidu reiterated that the agency will continue to ensure transparency in the oil and gas value chain by making available reliable data to strategic government agencies such as Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for adequate planning and decision making in the country.
“The Agency will also continue to collaborate with the NNPC and other oil marketing companies towards improving the regulatory environment as well as ensuring uninterrupted products availability”, Saidu added.
