No fewer than four vessels carrying imported Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol, arrived at seaports along Nigeria’s borders between October 18 and October 20, according to Nigerian Port Authority documents.
The document from the NPA revealed that approximately 123.4 million liters of PMS were berthed at two seaports to enhance national fuel supply, according to The Punch.
This development supports an earlier report indicating that oil dealers plan to import petrol to supplement the insufficient supply from the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which is currently unable to meet domestic demand.
They alleged that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery was producing approximately 10 million liters of petrol daily, significantly less than the promised 25 million liters.
In September, it was reported that dealers imported about 141 million liters of PMS due to a rise in pump prices from the refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Dealers indicated that the full deregulation of the downstream oil sector had created opportunities for PMS imports at fair market prices.
An analysis of the document indicated that the imported petrol was delivered to the Apapa port in Lagos and the Calabar port in Cross River State.
However, it remains unconfirmed whether any of the vessels were owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited or solely by oil marketers.
The first shipment, carrying 35,000 metric tonnes of PMS allocated to West African Port Services, arrived at the ASPM jetty on Friday, October 18, at 10:13 AM.
This was followed by 37,000 metric tonnes of fuel assigned to Intership arrived at the ASPM jetty at 3:37 PM, as well as another vessel carrying 10,000 metric tonnes assigned to Peak Shipping, which berthed at 3:59 PM.
At the Calabar port, a vessel with 10,000 metric tonnes docked at the Eco Marine terminal on Sunday at 8:02 AM. In total, the four vessels delivered 92,000 metric tonnes of fuel.
Using a conversion rate of 1,341 liters per metric tonne, the four vessels collectively brought in approximately 123.4 million liters of petrol.
Recall in a previous interview, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, George Ene-Ita,
stated that marketers with approved import licenses are permitted to import PMS.
He emphasized, however, that the products must undergo three major tests by the agency.
