The shortage of Premium Motor Spirit, sometimes known as petrol, in sections of Lagos and the South-Western states, may last until the end of September, and it may spread to other areas if not solved urgently.
On Thursday, it was learned that the scenario might persist until the end of the month since the System 2B pipeline in front of Good Luck Estate at Idimu, Alimosho Local Council Development Area of Lagos, will be operational by the end of September.
Fuel lines recently encountered in several areas of Lagos and some states in the South-West were blamed by oil marketers for vandals’ disruptive behaviour.
“From our perspective, the problem has been the pipeline vandalism about which we have voiced a concern since July. “Whenever there is an issue here, it will affect Lagos and the entire South-West,” said the chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Satellite Depot, Akin Akinrinade,
“Satellite depot has not stocked any product in the last three weeks.
However, the NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Garba-Deen Muhammad, claimed on Thursday that the company was repairing the damaged pipeline.
He said the facility would be completed by the end of September, which suggests that the supply problems brought on by the pipeline outage would last until the month’s end.
The NNPCL representative acknowledged that the pipeline has problems, but said that “the company is in the process of restoring it and we are hoping that it should be okay by the end of September.”
“Right now, it’s being fixed, and by the end of September, I expect it will return and be ready for good use. Thus, that is the current situation.”
The National Controller Operations, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, had earlier stated that there was no need for concern regarding product supply.
Despite the fact that there are still lines, NNPCL has told us that there is no need for concern. So, till we know what to do, let’s rely on their statement for a few days,” Osatuyi had said on Wednesday.
A source who chose to remain anonymous claimed that there are currently 200,000 metric tonnes at various Lagos depots, equal to 540 million liters of fuel.
He declined to say how much was distributed last week but added, “We are taking concrete steps to close the gaps in product distribution, and I can tell you that there is no significant difference in what was trucked out last week and this week.”
