The Petroleum Products Marketing Company might
have decided against using the nation’s pipeline network for fuel distribution
due to the activities of vandals along the pipeline routes stretching
5,120 kilometres.
The country has 21 loading depots and 19 pumping
stations with a total replacement value put at $9bn.
The PUNCH gathered that the PPMC
took the decision after the recent high-profile attacks on its engineers who
were carrying out repair works on vandalised pipelines. The attacks led
to the closure of one of the country’s most important pipeline network, the 2B
on September 5, 2012.
The now-closed system 2B was responsible for fuel
distribution from Atlas Cove jetty in Lagos to five major depots of the NNPC,
which transport about 60 percent of fuel distribution from the NNPC.
The System 2B is also said to handle the
distribution of 11 million litres out of the NNPC in-house supply of petrol put
at 35 million litres per day, for the whole of the South-West and some parts of
the North and South East.
Our correspondent learnt that the PPMC leadership
had foreclosed the reactivation of the de-commissioned System 2B pipeline
network for now.
A source within the industry told our
correspondent that the PPMC and the management of the NNPC opted for the
more difficult option of fuel distribution because of the repeated killings of
NNPC officials working on the pipeline by vandals.
Apart from the Deputy Manager and two other
engineers who lost their lives to the pipeline fire caused by fuel thieves at
Arepo on September 5, a deputy manager in charge of pipeline maintenance and a
manager at the audit unit, were attacked by vandals along the pipeline. They
died in a London hospital as a result of the injuries
they sustained during the attacks.
“With the seemingly intractable security
challenges encountered along the pipeline, the NNPC is opting for the more
difficult alternative of embarking on fuel distribution across the cities of
Nigeria with a total requirement of 1,062 trucks per day,” one of our top
sources in the oil sector said.
Meanwhile, the state of fuel supply at the
Federal Capital Territory has worsened with motorists spending hours in queues
to get the product. The product currently sells for between N200 and N250
per litre in the black market.
On Saturday, some motorists were seen
spending the night at 24-hour service stations in the Central Business
District in a bid to get the product.
Our correspondent gathered that products meant
for major cities were quite often diverted to villages with non
performing filling stations in a bid to evade government’s regulation that fuel
should not sell above N97 per litre.
Attempts to speak with PPMC spokesman, Mr. Nasir
Imodagbe, proved abortive as the telephone line was unstable. However, a text
sent to him was not responded to as at press time Similarly, NNPC spokesman,
Mr. Fidel Pepple, could not be reached. He did not respond to text enquiry sent
to his mobile phone.
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