By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) Limited said yesterday that it has produced about 28 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol, between last Sunday and Tuesday.
The injection of the 28 million litres is coming on the heels of the recently concluded rehabilitation works on its Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) of the refinery. Managing Director of PHRC, Mr. Bafred Audu Enjugu, told Daily Sun that the FCCU of the refinery has been running while some products from the primary processing units have been blended to produce over 10.28 million litres of petrol.
He explained that the rapid response was the product of a fast track strategy aimed at optimising available capacity at the plant in an effort to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians groaning under the biting fuel scarcity in the country.
Enjugu further stated that 1.7 million litres of petrol was released to the depot on Friday while another 4.5 million litres transferred to the depot for evacuation and distribution on Saturday with another 4.08 million litres dispatched on Tuesday.
He disclosed that the refinery commenced the process of blending Crack C5 and Naphtha on Sunday, leading to the production of 17.3 million litres for immediate distribution, assuring that the premier refinery was available to sustain its production and contribute to the nation’s petroleum products pool. This, he said, will assist in reducing the pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange demand through import substitution.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has implored consumers of petrol not to engage in panic buying just as it said that over 200 trucks laden with petrol were supplied to Abuja and environs yesterday.
The Group General Manager Group, Public Affairs Division, Mr. Garba Deen Muhammad, assured that the current petrol shortage would soon be over noting that the problem has been largely resolved in Lagos and the queues in Abuja are reducing by the day.
But Daily Sun investigation across some filling stations in Lagos yesterday punctured the claim of NNPC that fuel scarcity has been largely resolved as fuel queues were yet to disappear.
Majority of the filling station visited in Agege,Ogba, Agidingbi,Oworoshoki Expressway and Anthony via Oshodi Oke, had long queues of vehicles in search of petrol.
Panic buying according to Muhammad remained responsible why motorists converge in filling stations, thereby creating scarcity, especially in Abuja.