Nigeria’s Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) import has increased to 2.3 billion litres from September 11 to December 5, 2024, despite the coming on stream of Dangote and Port Harcourt refineries.
This is according to an available document from the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Continued fuel importation comes despite commitment by oil marketers and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to halt imports.
Dangote Refinery, with a 650,000-barrel-per-day production capacity, and Port Harcourt refinery commenced production and truckout of PMS on September 15 and 26 November 2024, respectively.
However, data from NPA showed that fuel importation has persisted despite the ramp-up of domestic PMS production by Dangote and Port Harcourt refineries.
Report revealed that in the past three days alone, a total of 52,000 metric tonnes of petrol were brought into the country.
About 1322.76 litres of petrol weighs one metric tonne. This implies that 68.74 million litres of imported fuel were brought in by dealers in three days.
The products were conveyed in three vessels and berthed at the Apapa Port in Lagos State, Tin Can Port in Lagos State, and the Calabar Port in Cross Rivers.
A further analysis of the import document showed that on Tuesday, December 3, 2024, a ship named Binta Saleh carrying 12,000 MT (15.864 million litres) of petrol berthed at the Apapa port at 8:12 am.
The vessel had Blue Seas Maritime as its agent and was handled at the Bulk Oil Plant terminal.
On Wednesday, December 4, 2024, another vessel named Shamal brought in 20,000 mt (26.44 million litres) of petrol through the Tincan port at midnight. The ship was handled by the Peak Shipping Agency at Terminal KLT Phase 3a.
Similarly, another vessel named Watson will bring in 20,000 MT (26.44 million) of refined fuel today (Thursday) by 4:52 pm at the Calabar port. The agent, Kach Maritime, will handle the vessel at the Ecomarine Terminal.
This is despite the announcement of an agreement between the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, and Dangote Refinery on the direct sale of petrol.
Recall that on October 11, 2024, the Federal Government had also announced that marketers can lift petrol directly from Dangote refinery, which ended the regime of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited as the sole off-taker of the refinery’s petrol.
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