Minister Allays Fears over Petrol Scarcity

This Day

17 February 2012

Minister Allays Fears over Petrol Scarcity

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Thursday allayed fears that re-emergence of long queues at filling stations in states of the Niger Delta and other parts of the country might signal a return of acute scarcity of petroleum products in the country.

Alison-Madueke said there was no cause for alarm over the availability of fuel and advised Nigerians not to panic or engage in any panic buying of the products.

The minister stated this while fielding questions form journalists at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), on her extensive visit to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) installations in Delta State.

Her visit to the state was coming at a time the pump price of petrol has shot up to between N150 and N200 per litre in Warri metropolis and environ as well as other parts of the state.

Most of the filling stations in Warri, Sapele, Ughelli, Agbor, Asaba and other parts of Delta State have remained shut to customers, especially since last Monday, while the few that sold the products experienced long queues and pushed up the price to N150 per litre.

The NNPC Mega-Stations in Warri and Asaba, which maintained the official pump price of N97 were on Wednesday overwhelmed by motorists with queues running into several kilometres.