There has been a steady surge in fuel importation to Nigeria with more inflows expected from Europe in the months to come, Daily Trust reports.
Trading sources said that the main reasons for the strong demand from Nigeria is particularly due to slow domestic refinery output, as well as to increased domestic demand.
The country has four refineries which could reduce petroleum products importation by up to 50 per cent but the refineries have struggled to remain afloat and have been unable to churn out products in appreciable quantities since the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) announced they were back.
The importation trend could continue up to the end of the year as the festive season approaches, a season when fuel consumption, is usually high. In early September, the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) reportedly issued additional import allocations for, at least, 300,000 tonnes of petrol for the remainder of the third quarter. This was on top of 1.5 million metric tonnes of already existing petrol import allocations for the third quarter.