The Government of Rivers State has confirmed the arrival of a vessel laden with Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol at the Port Harcourt depot of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
This was announced by the state Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Dr Peter Medee in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
He said the vessel contains enough petrol that will serve Rivers people and end the current fuel scarcity in the state.
“I’m glad to announce today that we received a report that the vessel we have been waiting for has arrived at the Port Harcourt depot.
“In a matter of days and hours, they will begin to load. So, my advice to Rivers people is that they should avoid panic buying,” he said.
Medee assured that in the next 48hours, products will be discharged into the system for loading to commence.
According to him, “The vessel that has landed, we are very happy that in the next one or two days, products will be discharged into the system and once the products are discharged, then loading will commence.
“Once loading commences, it means that we’re going to have surplus products in the state, and once we have surplus products, everyone will be happy.”
Continuing, he called on petroleum marketers to sell at the government-approved price to enable them to sell out old products before the arrival of new products.
“However, I am appealing to marketers to begin to reduce their price because if they don’t, they will be cut off with surplus supply, which would affect the products they may have sourced at a higher price.
“So the better for them to reduce the price and sell them off, the better for them. Because once we have surplus products, we will not allow anyone sell above 165per litre.”
The arrival of petrol comes amid the scarcity of petroleum products across the state, which has led to long queues in filling stations.
