The Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria has denied lifting petrol from the Port Harcourt Refining Company, managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Rivers State.
Based on its latest denial, PETROAN may have misled Nigerians when it said in February that its members were lifting PMS from the Port Harcourt refinery.
Four months after claiming that its members had started buying petrol from the revamped facility, the National President of the association, Billy Gillis-Harry, appeared on national television to say his members lifted only diesel and kerosene from the Port Harcourt refinery.
This claim was in sharp contrast with the defence put up by PETROAN to make Nigerians believe that the refinery was producing petrol sometime in February.
On February 1, PETROAN’s spokesman, Joseph Obele, issued a statement and made the same available to our correspondent, saying, “PETROAN members are now loading petroleum products, including Dual-Purpose Kerosene, Automotive Gas Oil, and Premium Motor Spirit” from the Port Harcourt refinery.
Obele said the Port Harcourt refinery was already selling petrol, diesel, and kerosene to retailers while the Warri refinery was supplying only diesel and kerosene. This came after repeated reports cast doubts on the operations of the rehabilitated refinery.
