The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Sunday said that its refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna were now supplying 60 per cent of the Dual Purpose Kerosene being consumed in the country.

This, it said on Sunday, was in line with the 2019 target date by the Federal Government to stop the importation of petroleum products.

A statement by the corporation quoted the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, as stating this at a two-day public hearing of the House of Representative Committee on Petroleum Resources.

The statement by the corporation’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, stated that Baru told the lawmakers that the refineries were now producing five million litres of kerosene daily, representing more than 60 per cent of the national daily consumption requirement of eight million litres.

The GMD, who was said to have been represented at the forum by the Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, NNPC, Mr. Henry Ikem-Obih, added that the balance of three million litres of the product was being imported by private marketers.

He said that kerosene and other petroleum products being supplied by the corporation were of high quality and safety standards.

“The NNPC ensures that the entire refining output in Nigeria through its refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna, and any products imported by it to make up for market supply shortfalls meet the specifications of the Nigerian Institute of Standard and Standards Organisation of Nigeria,” Baru said.

He added that all the depots in the country had laboratories for quality checks to ensure safety of consumers, noting that the corporation investigated the recent kerosene explosion in Calabar and could not trace the truck that delivered the adulterated product to any of its depots’ loading schedule.

Baru advised the committee to contact the Department of Petroleum Resources, which is the industry regulator, to investigate the source of the adulterated kerosene among the private depots.

The NNPC boss called on relevant authorities to empower the DPR to carry out its responsibilities more diligently by ensuring that petroleum products imported by marketers meet the required quality and safety standards as the corporation could not guarantee the quality of products imported by other market players.

“The quality of kerosene being sold to the general public required regular inspection to ensure that it meets health, safety, environment and quality standards at all times to avert any regulatory breaches or threat to lives and properties of the general public and consumers of the products,” Baru said.