BORDER CLOSURE: PPPRA Announces Low Volume Of Petroleum Products Transported To Benin Republic

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has affirmed that  the volume of petroleum products transported from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation fuel depots reduced in the wake of the recent closure of the Nigerian border with Benin Republic.

Recall that the federal government closed its borders recently, over security concerns and smuggling activities recently.

PPPRA said it observed a declining trend in the supply of petrol since the federal government announced the partial closure of the country’s borders.

A statement by the PPPRA spokesperson, Kimchi Apollo, said the development points at the gradual reduction in the volume of petrol trucked out from the depots.

The spokesman noted that records from various depots nationwide between August 5 and 11 this year revealed about 61 million litres of petrol was loaded and trucked-out by the NNPC.

The volume, the PPPRA said, represents the average daily trucked-out volume before the border closure.

Similarly, it said, between August 26 and September 1, a total of about 371.82 million litres of petrol was trucked out, averaging a daily figure of 53 million litres.

This represents a decline of about 4 million litres when compared to the previous week’s figures.

The PPPRA said current data show that the downward trend in PMS volume loaded at the depots continued between September 2 and 8.

“The daily average truck out figure for that week was 50.22million litres, indicating a further reduction of 2.9 million litres,” the PPPRA said.

“The high truck-out volume recorded before the partial closure of the nation’s borders could be attributed to the seepage of petroleum products across the border, coupled with the widening fuel price arbitrage with neighbouring West African countries,” it added.

While the downward trend in the consumption pattern is a welcome development, the agency assured Nigerians and other interest groups of its determination to curb the smuggling of products and ensure that petroleum products are available in the country.

However, the agency said it observed from the data obtained between the August 12 and 18, there was a drop of about 35 per cent in the volume of petrol trucked-out against the figures recorded the previous year.

However, the agency said between August 19 and 25, which falls within the period the borders were partially closed, it recorded an average daily truck-out figure of about 57 million litres which falls below the daily average figure recorded prior to the announcement.

It attributed the drop to the reduction in the volume of activities at various fuel depots during the Sallah holiday.