Aviation fuel analysts link scarcity to landing cost, racketeering, faults NNPC
Just as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Thursday said it had enough stock of aviation fuel to meet the needs of airline operators and other consumers of the product in Nigeria, industry analysts have traced the rising aviation fuel price to jumping rising costs and dealers’ racketeering.
NNPC’s spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, stated that the assurance became necessary to douse rumours in certain quarters that there was a shortage of aviation fuel across the country.
He argued that contrary to insinuations of shortage, there was a stock of over 80 million litres of aviation fuel in its storage, enough to last for over 37 days at current daily consumption.
Whereas NNPC claims that available stocks can sustain air travels for at least one month if there is no imports within the period, stakeholders in the Jet A1 imports say the trajectory of price hike is high due to exchange crisis and import differentials.
Accordingly, NNPC enjoined airline operators and other consumers of the product to discountenance the rumours coming from marketers and go about their businesses without fear or distraction.
Ughamadu further advised marketers and other players sub-sector to desist from any action that could impede supply and distribution of the product, noting that the corporation would do everything within its powers to sustain the seamless supply of petroleum products nationwide.
