However, it also emerged yesterday that Nigerians may not be able to know the true state of the NNPC until the result of the audit ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan into the accounts of the corporation is completed in two months.

While the Senate is planning to probe the corporation, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has urged Dr. Jonathan to set up an independent probe of the NNPC to ascertain the veracity of the claims and counter-claims over the financial status of the corporation.

The Minister of Information and Communications, Prof Dora Akunyili told journalists after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council yesterday that “NNPC, from the auditor’s account, is a going concern and does not have solvency issue as a corporation. Therefore, categorically, NNPC is not insolvent. Given the nature of NNPC, there are regular transactions between the Federal Government and NNPC. And as a result, there are always outstanding balances between the corporation and the Federal Government.”

The Guardian learnt at the weekend in Abuja that in the letter, Barkindo disclosed that the evacuation of condensate and failure to provide security were factors that could plunge the country in total power blackout and cause it to lose huge revenue that should accrue to it through the sale of oil on the global market.

But the NNPC at the weekend started the evacuation of condensate lying fallow at the facilities of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Warri, which has posed threats to power supply in the country.

The SPDC, last week, raised the alarm that it might be compelled to shut down its four gas plants in Utorogu, Ughelli, Oben and Sapele due to the non-evacuation of condensate from its plants, with dire consequence for the power supply situation in the country.

Group General Manager, Corporate Affairs, NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, made the promise in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, the News Agency of Nigeria has reported.

Ajuonuma stated that the management of the corporation had formed a special task force, code-named “War Room,” to assist in the eradication of persistent fuel queues in major cities in the country.

He said the task force was coordinating the loading and dispatch of huge volumes of Premium Motor Spirit to the filling stations.

The figure, he said, was in excess of the national daily consumption figures which ranged between 30 million and 33 million litres.

It was learnt in Abuja on Tuesday that 11 oil firms were involved in the deal and the payments would be made immediately.

A highly-placed source in one of the oil majors told our correspondent that the deal was struck last Thursday at a meeting between the Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum Matters, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah, and the companies.

The venue of the meeting was the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation headquarters.

In a statement, the Group General Manager (Public Affairs) of the NNPC, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, said the corporation now has 14 days of sufficiency ready to discharge, 40 days on the sea and 29 days planned for March.

He added that about 1135 trucks of fuel were loaded nationally by the corporation and major marketers at the weekend in its bid to ensure availability of product in every state.

Ajuonuma expressed optimism that with the completion of the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries and resumption of crude supply to the refineries, normalcy will soon return to the supply chain.

Babalola directed the PHCN to accelerate and conclude discussions on the Gas Supply and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) and Gas Transportation Agreement (GTA) entered into with the NNPC.

The minister who summoned the top management of PHCN led by the Managing Director PHCN Engr Hussein Labo to a meeting in his office to address the thorny gas issue said PHCN should be concerned about the declining power generation as a result of gas challenges.

He urged them to come up with a workable solution adding that the country currently has over 5,000MW generation capacity but lacks enough gas to drive the machines.

The development came as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) acquired tracking device to monitor oil vessels coming into Nigeria as a way of maintaining the current availability of petroleum products in the country.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja, the Chief Press Secretary in the Petroleum Resources Ministry, Mr. Clinton Oni, said the committee on the protection of oil assets is headed by the Minister, Dr. Rilwan Lukman.

Chief Olatunji, who addressed the press, alongside the liason officer of the association, Chief Ade Onafowo-kan, disclosed at the zonal executive meeting held in Ibadan, that the Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was making efforts to deepen the crisis.

He alleged that the seven private depots, which dispensed fuel to Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi, Enugu and Abia states, were not given adequate fuel, adding that the NNPC preferred to pump fuel to its retail and mega stations at the expense of other depots.

The minister who spoke yesterday in Lagos at a stakeholders’ forum said the EFCC was brought into the investigation to ensure a thorough job. He assured that the commission would expose the culprits in the scam, adding that government had zero tolerance for corruption in the petroleum sector.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Mr Odein Ajumogobia had last month said the Federal Government would set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the allegation that 90 million litres of petrol was missing.

Checks revealed that in view of the current realities, several motorists- weary of being stranded- were compelled to purchase petrol at deregulated prices within and outside filling stations at prices ranging between N80 and N180 per litre, depending on the part of the country.

Areas monitored by Vanguard yesterday included Lagos, Ibadan, Osogbo, Abeokuta, Ile-Ife, Akure, Benin, Warri, Asaba, Onitsha, Enugu, Owerri, Aba, Port Harcourt, Yenagoa, Uyo, Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Maiduguri.

Although the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, had, in the last one month, issued statements blaming the scarcity on hoarding by petroleum marketers and  tanker drivers’ strike, among others, indications are that the current fuel importation regime superintended by it may have gone terribly wrong.