BENJAMIN OMOIKE
Nigerians should in the mean time forget about a quick restoration of the county’s moribund refineries.
Mallam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), made this disclosure in Abuja during his appearance before the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).
Kyari said the situation was regrettable, just as he added that the NNPC was making efforts to bring the refineries back to work.
The committee is investigating the increase in prices of diesel and cooking gas.
Said Kyari: “The refineries will not come back tomorrow. There is a process going on. We have decided to do a quick fix for the Warri refinery.”
He said no one could guarantee the security of petroleum supply, adding that countries were preserving excess volume that they had in their kitty.
Said he: “The world has never seen this kind of uncertainty. Today countries are stockpiling products. Shortly before COVID-19, the world was already facing a shortfall of three (3) million barrels of supply of oil.”
The GMD said there had been no control to manage the energy crisis across the world, adding that, “to guarantee energy security means you just make products available at any time and at any cost.”
He disclosed that across the country, making over 200 illegal refineries were being operated.
Kyari said the solution was to restore crude oil production, adding that massive intervention was ongoing and by the end of July “we will restore production to a level that is reasonable”.
Added Kyari: “Many European countries are asking for rationing gas, they are asking people to alternate their Air Conditioning.
“Today, countries are toying with subsidies because prices are so high because they don’t think they can manage inflation associated with it.”
