4th July, 2011
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is set to commence the direct distribution of kerosene to households in the country through the use of mobile fuel dispensing trucks which made its debut on the streets of Lagos over the weekend in a test run exercise.
The project, which is being run by the Corporation’s downstream retail outfit, NNCP Retail Limited, in conjunction with Capital Oil and Gas Limited, an indigenous player in the nation’s downstream petroleum products storage and distribution business is designed to provide lasting remedy to the prevailing artificially induced challenge in the distribution of household kerosene to homes in Nigeria.
Speaking at the flag-off of the pilot scheme, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC stated that the exercise, which is restricted to some streets in the Lagos area, would provide an invaluable knowledge base for the NNPC in good time to perfect any noticeable shortcomings in the programme before the eventual full blown deployment of the dispensing trucks.
“Our determination to arrest this artificial challenge in the distribution of kerosene to Nigerians is total. What we are doing here today is to guarantee that the product gets to the end user at the right time and correct price of N50 per litre, Dr. Ajuonuma stated’’.
Dr. Ajuonuma disclosed that the deployment of the mobile dispensing trucks is not just an adhoc exercise but a well thought out product distribution strategy by the NNPC Retail and Capital Oil, designed to complement the conventional method of selling kerosene at regular filling stations.
Under the arrangement NNPC Retail will provide the product while Capital Oil will make available the ultra modern dispensing trucks. Each of the trucks has a capacity of 33,000 litres of kerosene. However, to ensure that profiteers do not exploit the situation nobody would be allowed to buy more than 25 litres.
Also to reduce the risk involved in the cash transactions customers are expected to come with a kerosene voucher which can be purchased at the nearest NNPC Retail Mega/Affiliate stations.
“Earlier this year Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke as Minister of Petroleum Resources commissioned these trucks and the ultramodern Capital Oil and Gas loading gantry in Apapa.
“So what we are doing right now is in furtherance of this vision to ensure complete sanitization of product distribution channel as we believe that the provision of alternate and direct sales point like this would go a long way in curbing profiteering,’’ Ajuonuma stated.
Commenting on the availability of kerosene, the NNPC spokesman stated that the Corporation over the weekend distributed 30,000 metric tonnes of DPK between members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN and the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN for onward circulation to the filling stations operated by their members across the country.
He stated that the Corporation has concluded arrangements to distribute 90,000 metric tonnes of imported DPK every month to downstream stakeholders to augment the additional 4.5 million litres of daily production of kerosene from the local refineries.
Chairman/CEO of Capital Oil, Ifeanyi Uba disclosed that the company is deploying a fleet of 200 trucks for the test run while calling on members of the public to support the project which he described as Capital Oil’’s response to the recent call by Mrs. Alison-Madueke on downstream players to innovate means of product distribution.