Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, says the country’s refineries cannot be quickly restored.
Kyari, who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday while appearing before the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), expressed regret at the situation, saying the NNPC was making efforts to restore the refineries.
The committee is investigating the increase in prices of diesel and cooking gas.
“The refineries will not come back tomorrow. There is a process going on. We have decided to do a quick fix for the Warri refinery,” the NNPC boss said.
Kyari said no one could guarantee the security of petroleum supply, adding that countries were preserving excess volume that they had in stock.
“The world has never seen this kind of uncertainty. Today countries are stockpiling products. Shortly before COVID-19, the world was already facing a shortfall of 3 million barrels of supply of oil,” he said.
The NNPC GMD said there had been no control to manage the energy crisis across the world, adding, “To guarantee energy security means you just make products available at any time and at any cost.”
He disclosed that over 200 illegal refineries were being operated across the country.
Kyari said the solution was to restore crude oil production, adding that massive intervention was ongoing and by the end of July “we will restore production to a level that is reasonable.”
He added, “Many European countries are asking for rationing gas, they are asking people to alternate their Air Conditioning.
“Today, countries are toying with subsidies because prices are so high because they don’t think they can manage inflation associated with it.”