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| Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru |
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday said
that its refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna were now supplying 60
per cent of the Dual Purpose Kerosene being consumed in the country.
This, it said on Sunday, was in line with the 2019 target
date by the Federal Government to stop the importation of petroleum products.
A statement by the corporation quoted the Group Managing
Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, as stating this at a two-day public hearing
of the House of Representative Committee on Petroleum Resources.
The statement by the corporation’s spokesperson, Ndu
Ughamadu, stated that Baru told the lawmakers that the refineries were now
producing five million litres of kerosene daily, representing more than 60 per
cent of the national daily consumption requirement of eight million litres.
The GMD, who was said to have been represented at the forum
by the Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, NNPC, Mr. Henry Ikem-Obih, added
that the balance of three million litres of the product was being imported by
private marketers.
He said that kerosene and other petroleum products being
supplied by the corporation were of high quality and safety standards.
“The NNPC ensures that the entire refining output in Nigeria
through its refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, and any products
imported by it to make up for market supply shortfalls meet the specifications
of the Nigerian Institute of Standard and Standards Organisation of Nigeria,”
Baru said.
He added that all the depots in the country had laboratories
for quality checks to ensure safety of consumers, noting that the corporation
investigated the recent kerosene explosion in Calabar and could not trace the
truck that delivered the adulterated product to any of its depots’ loading
schedule.
Baru advised the committee to contact the Department of
Petroleum Resources, which is the industry regulator, to investigate the source
of the adulterated kerosene among the private depots.
The NNPC boss called on relevant authorities to empower the
DPR to carry out its responsibilities more diligently by ensuring that
petroleum products imported by marketers meet the required quality and safety
standards as the corporation could not guarantee the quality of products
imported by other market players.
“The quality of kerosene being sold to the general public
required regular inspection to ensure that it meets health, safety, environment
and quality standards at all times to avert any regulatory breaches or threat
to lives and properties of the general public and consumers of the products,”
Baru said.
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