By At least four vessels carrying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, arrived at Nigerian seaports between Friday, October 18, and Sunday, October 20, according to findings by The AfrikTimes. Documents obtained from the Nigerian Ports Authority on Sunday show that around 123.4 million litres of PMS were delivered to two key seaports, bolstering the nation’s fuel supply.
This development supports an earlier exclusive report by The AfrikTimes, which revealed that oil marketers were importing fuel to complement the supply from the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum Refinery. Sources within the industry indicated that the refinery’s output of approximately 10 million litres per day was insufficient to meet Nigeria’s domestic demand, falling short of its earlier commitment to produce 25 million litres daily.
In September, The AfrikTimes reported that fuel dealers imported about 141 million litres of petrol following a price increase for petrol supplied by the Dangote Refinery, as released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). Marketers said that the full deregulation of the downstream oil sector by the government had created opportunities for importing PMS at competitive prices.
The latest batch of imported fuel arrived at Apapa Port in Lagos and Calabar Port in Cross River State. The first vessel, carrying 35,000 metric tonnes of PMS and allocated to West African Port Services, docked at the ASPM jetty on Friday, October 18, at 10:13 am. Later that day, two more vessels arrived at the same terminal, bringing 37,000 metric tonnes and 10,000 metric tonnes of fuel, respectively. On Sunday, October 20, another vessel carrying 10,000 metric tonnes of PMS berthed at the Eco Marine Terminal in Calabar.
Based on the industry-standard conversion rate of 1,341 litres per metric tonne, the total cargo brought in by the four vessels amounts to approximately 123.4 million litres of petrol.
When reached for comment, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority spokesperson George Ene-Ita confirmed that licensed marketers are permitted to import PMS, provided the product passes the agency’s rigorous testing protocols. He stressed that all imported fuel must undergo testing at both the product’s origin and Nigerian ports to ensure it meets the required standards before being released to the market.
