The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says its three refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna now produce five million litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), popularly known as kerosene daily.
This, according to it, represents more than 60 percent of the national daily consumption requirement of eight million litres.
A statement by the Group General Manager, Group, Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, on Sunday stated that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, said this at a two-day Investigative Public Hearing of the House of Representative Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).
The GMD, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Mr Henry Ikem Obih, said the remaining three million litres of kerosene required daily was being imported by private petroleum products marketers.
“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 Organisation of Nigeria (SON),” he was quoted as saying.
According to him, the NNPC will not compromise safety and quality in its products and processes, hence all the depots in the country had laboratories for quality checks to ensure the safety of consumers.
He explained that in keeping with its avowed commitment to the safety of consumers, the corporation investigated the recent incident of kerosene explosion in Calabar and could not trace the truck that delivered the adulterated product in any of its depots’ loading schedule.
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The NNPC boss called on relevant authorities to empower the Department of Petroleum Resources to carry out its responsibilities more diligently by ensuring that petroleum products imported by marketers meet the required quality and safety standards as NNPC cannot guarantee the quality of products imported by other market players.
“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,” he said.
The Federal Government has set 2019 as the year for the cessation of petroleum products importation.
