The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has approved the release of 2015 Q1 allocation to marketers for the importation of petroleum products.

A statement issued by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), said the early release is in furtherance of the Minister’s resolve at ensuring continuous and robust products supply in the system.

According to the statement, the Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, while calling on motorists not to engage in panic buying, assured that, “there is ample supply of petroleum products in the country”, adding that “discharges and truck-out had continued in spite of the holidays and the festive periods”.

The PPPRA further explained that apart from facilitating an improved national Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) supply and stock build-up, the effort is also to enable marketers make adequate preparations towards products sourcing and importation early in the New Year.

“The Petroleum Minister had commenced a regime of early release of quarterly PMS allocations in addition to supplementary allocations to complement the national demand”, the statement added.

According to the PPPRA, the early approvals, “apart from providing additional imports to supplement the prevailing stock level in the system, is now responsible for the sustained availability of petroleum products across the country at regulated prices”.