NMDPRA AGREES WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO GRADUALLY PHASE OUT TRUCKING OF PETROL, MEASURES TAKE OFF MARCH 1 SAYS ED, OGBUGO UKOHA

Ogbugo Ukoha, Executive Director of Distribution Systems Storage and Retailing Infrastructure of NMDPRA has revealed steps being taken by the body to ensure that petrol tanker accidents become a thing of the past.

He spoke at a press conference today at the headquarters of the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency.

According to him, the NMDPRA has agreed with stakeholders  to ban trucks carrying over 60,000 litres of hydrocarbon products from loading effective from 1st March 2025.

He added that effective from the Fourth Quarter of 2025, no truck carrying more than 45,000 litres of petroleum products shall be allowed to load. He also revealed other measures that have been put in place to ensure that, the trucks are monitored, the drivers are also tested to ensure they don’t drive under influence or too stressed to concentrate.

All these will remain in  place as trucking is reduced gradually till it is phased out.

Speaking of fuel importation, Ukoha revealed that none of the Oil Marketing Comapnies that owned refineries have imported petroleum products this year.

In a veiled confirmation that NNPCL has not imported petrol this year, he said, “So just for clarity, what I am saying is that the contribution of local refining towards the sufficiency is less than 60 per cent, currently January and February 2025 which  is less than 50 of what we require daily. And that shortfall is sourced by way of importation. Even though none of the OMCs that owned refineries have imported PMS this year ”.

Speaking about the controversial issue of quality of petrol being produced by NNPC, the Executive Director stated that

the NMDPRA always insists that all petroleum products meet the specifications of the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

According to him, the Authority does not permit the distribution of products that fall short of quality standards.

“You must meet those specifications, otherwise we will not let those products be distributed,” he said.

“As a regulator, we are working very hard in compliance with the presidential and statutory mandates we have to support the local refineries to build capacity to the point that Nigerians will have sufficient products and not just quality but pricing is also done in a transparent, competitive and fair way.”