By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The three refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have resumed the production of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), otherwise known as diesel and kerosene respectively.
This move, Business Post gathered, was taken due to the recent scarcity of kerosene, which subsequently caused the price to jerk up, going as high as N500 per litre in some parts of the country against the official N83 per litre.
In order to bring succour to consumers, NNPC said its three refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri have resumed production of the commodities.
The resumption of refining of AGO and DPK is expected to balance the disequilibrium in demand and supply of the white products being experienced in recent times in parts of the Country.
Speaking on the production level of the Warri refinery, the Managing Director of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Mr Solomon Ladenegan, said the plant had been doing well since the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) was revved up on Saturday, January 7, 2017.
Mr Ladenegan said the refinery resumed production last Saturday at about 10:22hrs, with the plant’s CDU functioning.
The refinery MD stated that the plant now refines 2 million litres of kerosene and 3 million litres of diesel daily.
“This morning, we have pumped the products to PPMC and they have started loading. They are going to load up to 1 million litres of DPK and AGO. The products are there in the tank and we are doing everything to get them to the market,” he disclosed.
On his part, the Managing Director of the Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC), Dr Bafred Enjugu, said Port Harcourt Refinery was producing 3 million litres of AGO daily, in addition to millions of DPK being churned out by the refinery daily.
Dr Enjugu enthused that his operators were thrilled having rehabilitated the old Port Harcourt Refinery where production of AGO was being carried out by themselves without foreign expertise deployment.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna Refinery has also roared into action, producing millions of litres of white products to ease out the situation in supply and distribution of petroleum products nationwide.
An independent marketer, Mr Abubakar Usman Yahaya of Yamoyus Nigeria Ltd who was at the PHRC Depot for loading, described the refinery and the depot environment as positive, affirming that he and his co-marketers had access to PMS, AGO and DPK in sufficient quantities.
“I think this is because the refinery has started working,” Mr Yahaya stated.
Beside the products from the refineries, NNPC has made arrangements for additional supply intervention through direct import of PMS, AGO and DPK to sustain products availability across the country.
It would be recalled that NNPC broke the jinx of end-of-year products shortage during the last yuletide season by ensuring copious products supply across every nook and cranny of the country.
Adedapo Adesanya