With the country hit by fuel scarcity for months, the depots were opened to ease the difficulties experienced by the independent petroleum marketers in getting PMS across the country.
The marketers have over time, lamented over the problems encountered by the association as they blamed private deport owners for not making the product - PMS available to them when due.
At a media briefing held last month, the association accused the private depot operators of going above the recommended government-approved price when selling PMS to marketers.
The NNPCL noted that repair work on the satellite depots was carried out by a subsidiary of the company - NNPCL Pipeline and Marketing Limited and this was confirmed by the Chairman of Satellite Depots, Akin Akinrinade, who added that the facilities started receiving products on Friday, February 17, 2023.
According to a report by Thisday, in furtherance to the government’s commitment to ensure petroleum products go round and the scarcity is minimised to its barest minimum, the NNPCL proceeded to pump in 953.13 million litres worth of products to major and minor depots across the country.
The report further revealed that between February 4 - 10, 2023, the NNPCL pumped in 502 million litres to marketers while the next batch of 450 million litres came a few weeks after that confirming the apex regulators' stance that it has a distribution challenge and not a supply challenge.
According to the satellite depot chairman, instructions have been passed across to depot operations to sell at N172 per litre.
“We have not started selling to marketers. We have started receiving products since Friday. We received it on Saturday, and some will also come in today (Sunday).
“Since products are now being received and prices will now come down. I can assure you that the remaining queue will disappear this week,” he added.