NNPC increases daily petrol truck from 550 to 1,661

NIGERIAN National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday increased daily loading of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country from 550 trucks to 1,661 trucks.

  A statement by Group Public Affairs Manager, Dr. Kennie Obateru, said the increase was done in order to eliminate long queues in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria.

  Quoting Managing Director of Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Musa Lawan, as saying that there are about two billion litres of PMS in strategic depots across the country to keep the nation well supplied for two months if no drop of fuel was imported in that period; Obateru said there was no need for fear of scarcity.

  “We have embarked on massive load out. Today, we trucked out 1,661 trucks from all depots across the country. Reports reaching us show that they have already started arriving at the filling stations. We believe that this would ease out the queues,” he said.

  Obateru also said that a 24-hour situation monitoring committee has been set up to track the movements of trucks from the depots to the various filling stations across the country, assuring that the queues will thin out in the next few days, explaining that the disruption in the distribution chain was caused by the strike embarked upon by Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) over compensation.

  He assured that with the suspension of the strike upon the intervention of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, and the resumption of loading, coupled with the extension of loading time, normalcy would soon return to the filling stations.

  It would be recalled that the GMD’s intervention yesterday led to the suspension of the strike by the PTD for one week.