LONDON, FEBRUARY 9 – The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said it will import two cargoes of gasoline per day for the rest of February in order to eradicate fuel queues in the shortage-hit nation
Each cargo will include 50 million litres, roughly 35,000 tonnes, to “increase supply and replenish strategic reserves”, NNPC said in a statement
The company added it had 324 million litres of petrol on land and 432 million litres in marine storage, which it said was enough for 22 days of supply
NNPC has worked fervently to increase fuel supply since queues and shortages popped up in the West African nation in December. In its statement, it acknowledged that fuel queues had “resurfaced in some cities”
There is currently a rare Suezmax en route to West Africa from the Baltics with 115,000 tonnes of gasoline – more than three times the typical vessel size
The cargo was booked by Vitol, one of the companies that holds a crude-for-product swap with NNPC. It is expected to park offshore and discharge its cargo into Nigeria via smaller ships
