Coronavirus: PPPRA assures of sufficient petroleum supply

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency has assured Nigerians of sufficient petroleum product supply in the country amid fears of the effect of the Coronavirus spread affecting the sector.
The Agency disclosed this in a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Alhaji Abdulkadir Saidu, in Abuja on Sunday.
Saidu said Nigeria had nothing to fear in spite of the rising fear of Coronavirus spread affecting the global oil demand.
“The PPPRA reassures the public that it will continue to work with other relevant stakeholders towards maintaining efficient petroleum products supply in the country,” he said.
He noted that the agency’s January 2020 report on Oil and Gas sector operations showed that the national supply of Premium Motor Spirit was at 1,828.62 billion litres, while Automotive Gas Oil and Aviation Turbine Kerosene were at 423.27 million litres and 96.70 million litres respectively.
He said the average PMS Days Sufficiency in January was at 41.34 days, AGO at 45.04 days, House Hold Kerosene at 9.36 days, while ATK and LPFO were at 53.73 and 33.75 days respectively
Saidu noted that between February 21 and 27, the average days sufficiency stood at 42.28 days for PMS, AGO was 44.73 days, while HHK was 20.36 days and ATK 36.22 days.
He said: “During the week in view, the total volume of PMS and AGO discharged were 551.01 million litres and 84.84 million litres respectively.
“Also, Crude oil prices in January averaged $63.51, $64.06 and $58.29 per barrel for Brent, Bonny and WTI respectively, as against the December average prices of $67.02, $65.94 and $60.67 per barrel.”
Saidu noted that available data for Week 4 of February 2020 indicated declines in the prices of Brent, Bonny and WTI, which averaged $57.17, $57.14 and $52.86 per barrel respectively.
Commenting on its operations, he said constant monitoring of products supply and distribution by the agency as well as the entrenchment of responsive pricing policy through monitoring of trends in market fundamentals and updating pricing template contributed to product availability nationwide.
He said: “In addition, sharp practices by some operators are greatly reduced as a result of vessel tracking, efficient scheduling and monitoring by PPPRA independent cargo surveyors and field operatives.
“The agency also ensured that the NNPC and other Marketers maintained strict compliance to approved guidelines for importation of petroleum products.”