At least four vessels transporting imported Premium Motor Spirit commonly known as petrol, arrived at various seaports along Nigeria’s borders between Friday, October 18, and Sunday, October 20.
According to The PUNCH, documents obtained from the Nigerian Ports Authority on Sunday, rerevealed that these shipments, totalling approximately 123.4 million litres of PMS, docked at two key seaports to bolster the nation’s fuel supply.
This aligns with an earlier that oil marketers had planned to import petrol to supplement the output from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which, despite its $20 billion investment, was reportedly not meeting local demand. According to the marketers, the refinery was producing around 10 million litres of petrol daily—far below the 25 million litres it had initially projected.
In September, about 141 million litres of PMS were imported by oil dealers following a price hike in Dangote-refined petrol distributed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The dealers noted that the complete deregulation of the downstream oil sector by the government allowed for fair market competition, creating opportunities for the importation of PMS to address the shortfall.
An analysis of the Nigerian Ports Authority document detailed the arrival of these vessels at both the Apapa port in Lagos and the Calabar port in Cross River State.
However, it remains unclear whether any of these vessels were operated by the NNPCL or if all belonged to private oil marketers.
On Friday, October 18, at 10:13 a.m., the first vessel, carrying 35,000 metric tonnes of PMS and assigned to West African Port Services, docked at the ASPM jetty.
Later that day, at 3:37 p.m., another ship bearing 37,000 metric tonnes of fuel, designated for Intership, also arrived at the ASPM terminal. A third vessel, carrying 10,000 metric tonnes of PMS, berthed at 3:59 p.m. under the management of Peak Shipping.
By Sunday morning, a fourth vessel transporting an additional 10,000 metric tonnes arrived at the Eco marine terminal in Calabar at 8:02 a.m.
In total, these four vessels delivered 92,000 metric tonnes of PMS. With a conversion factor of 1,341 litres per metric tonne, this amounts to an estimated 123.4 million litres of petrol brought in to enhance national fuel availability.
In a previous interview, George Ene-Ita, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, reiterated that oil marketers with valid import licenses were permitted to bring in PMS.
He emphasized, however, that all imported products must pass stringent tests before distribution.
“The products must be subjected to our testing protocols at the ports,” Ene-Ita explained. “They must meet the established standards before being cleared for offloading at their respective terminals. We also conduct tests at the product’s origin, and before smaller vessels transport the fuel inland, our inspectors will conduct further tests to ensure compliance with the required specifications.”
These thorough procedures ensure that only products meeting Nigeria’s safety and quality standards are released into the market, safeguarding the integrity of the nation’s fuel supply chain.
