If the words of the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru is to go by, the problems of delays and cancellation of flights due to non- availability of aviation fuel in the aviation industry currently being experienced would be a thing of the past.
Yesterday, Dr, Baru said the NNPC has flooded the market with Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK) popularly called aviation fuel to ensure a hitch-free Yuletide celebration.
In the past two weeks, scores of passengers have been stranded across the nation’s airports due to scarcity of aviation fuel for airline operators to embark on flights.
He said the giant step was taken to forestall shortage of the product, a situation that had recently led to reported cases of flight delays and cancellations across the nation’s airports.
Dr. Baru said in the build-up to the yuletide period, the Corporation had exceeded the demand of marketers.
The GMD explained that the NNPC had imported about 38.7million litres of aviation fuel which represented about 26-day sufficiency.
Specifically, he continued, on December 14, 2016, the Corporation completed the discharge of 8,800MT which represented about 10.6million litres to major terminals in the country.
In addition, as at this morning (December 19, 2016), 23,500MT which represented about 28.2million litres was being discharged to the major oil terminals.
In order to sustain the tempo, the Corporation had also secured the supply of additional 30,000MT vessel of ATK which represented about 36million litres expected to berth Nigerian shores before the end of the year.
Furthermore, NNPC wishes to state that it has over 40-day sufficiency for PMS and adequate volumes of AGO and DPK to satisfy national demand throughout the yuletide period and beyond.
The GMD further assured Nigerians that the NNPC would sustain the drive towards ensuring availability of petroleum products at all times.
