- Seeks unimpeded movement of products-bearing tankers
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has challenged professionals in the Nigerian Petroleum sector to proffer solutions to the current challenges facing the industry.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, listed over-supply and the outbreak of the COVID-19, which has led to a considerable fall in the price of crude oil, as the two major challenges facing the oil and gas industry in the country.
“The combination of these two events means that there would be a lull in activities in the oil industry, and if forecasts are right, we may witness very low oil prices throughout the year and that will have a collateral effect on the economy,” Kyari said.
He urged professionals to fashion out a blueprint on how to get things done economically in order to minimize the negative impact of the current situation on the industry.
The GMD said NNPC has repositioned its Research and Development business into an innovation centre that can provide the needed solution and services for the technological development in the petroleum industry.
On his part, President of the SPE, Mr. Joe Uwakwe, said the business of his society is to seek technical solutions to industry problems, adding that the present challenges require the development of technology to produce crude oil in a more cost-efficient manner. He assured that professionals in the industry would do what is necessary to overcome the present challenges.
Meanwhile, the corporation has appealed to security personnel to allow petroleum products tanker drivers move freely, despite the lockdown ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari in some parts of the country.
The Federal government had earlier approved the reduction of the pump price of petrol to N125 from N145.
On Tuesday, however, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, again, further reduced the pump price of petrol to N123.50 per litre from the current price of N125.
According to a statement by the corporation’ spokesperson, Dr. Kennie Obateru on Tuesday, NNPC holds over 2.6 billion litres of petrol. This, it said, will be enough to last the period of the lockdown and beyond.
The lockdown as announced by Buhari, on March 29, in a national broadcast, is observed in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja, and will be for 14 days.
The president, however, granted exemptions to some categories of “essential workers.”
On Tuesday, petroleum tankers headed to Lagos were stranded after police placed a blockade at the Lagos-Ogun boundary.
The corporation said the federal government counted on the support of the law enforcement agencies across the country to ensure smooth distribution of petroleum products across the nooks and crannies of the country during the period of the restriction.
Motorists were also urged not to engage in panic buying.