NNPC Refineries Meet 60% of Domestic Kerosene Consumption

Speaking at a 2-day Investigative Public Hearing of the House of Representative Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has revealed that his corporation’s three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna are now supplying 60 per cent of kerosene consumed in the country.

This is in contex of Nigeria’s 2019 target date for the cessation of petroleum products importation by the Nigerian Government.

Baru who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Mr Henry Ikem Obih, said “The NNPC ensures that the entire refining output in Nigeria through its refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna and any products imported by it to make up for market supply-shortfalls meet the specifications of the Nigerian Institute of Standard (NIS) and Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON)”.

The GMD explained that NNPC was committed to the safety of consumers and therefore investigating incident of kerosene explosion in Calabar but findings so far hae exonerated the NNPC. Baru then advised the committee to contact the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which is the petroleum Industry regulator to investigate the source of the adulterated kerosene among the private depots.

He said “The quality of kerosene being sold to the general public required regular inspection to ensure that it meets health, safety, environment and quality standards at all times to avert any regulatory breaches or threat to lives and properties of the general public and consumers of the products.”