The government also disclosed that vessels importing Premium Motor Spirit would continue to berth at the shore to discharge petrol to different depots, from where the product would be distributed to different filling stations.

The Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria had in a statement on Tuesday said its members in Apapa and other locations in Lagos had been receiving 300 million litres of fuel from eight vessels this week.

This was after the South-West Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Ayo Cardoso, confirmed to one of our correspondents that aside from the 240 million litres offloaded at various depots on Monday, close to 85 million litres of petrol were offloaded as of Tuesday evening.

As of Wednesday afternoon, it was observed that roads in Ogun, Lagos and others were deserted as vehicles lined up in filling stations to buy fuel. Some individuals said they had parked their vehicles pending the availability of petrol.

Also, the few filling stations where the fuel was available sold at prices considered to be too exorbitant.

But in an interview, the NMPDRA’s Cardoso insisted that the product would soon be available across the nooks and crannies of the country, saying the government was doing its best to ensure massive distribution of PMS.

Cardoso disclosed that more vessels would keep arriving in Nigeria for two weeks, starting from last Monday. This, he said, would include continuous distribution of petrol to filling stations.

According to him, each state of the federation has its allocations, saying the same will be delivered to reduce the queues at filling stations.

“As I said earlier, there would be enough fuel across Nigeria soon. We have received over 300 million litres as of Tuesday. More have arrived as we speak, but I can’t give you the figure. Vessels will keep arriving in Nigeria for 15 days, which started counting on Monday, and we will keep distributing the product across the nation.

“The masses should not panic; all these will soon vanish. We are not prioritising anywhere, each state has its allocation to be delivered accordingly,” Cardoso stated.

Meanwhile, many residents of Ogun State on Wednesday resorted to trekking from one place to the other as fuel scarcity continued to take its toll on Nigerians.

This was because transport fares skyrocketed following the lingering fuel crisis.

It said the action by the affected depots contravened the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, and also contributed to the recent PMS supply crisis in the downstream oil sector.

The Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, who disclosed this to journalists in Abuja, explained that the government had held several engagements with all stakeholders in the downstream oil sector.

“The stakeholders include the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, etc,” he stated.

Ahmed, however, stated that despite the engagements with the dealers and the fact that the sector was still a regulated market, the affected depots went ahead to hike the cost of petrol far higher than what was approved for them.

He said the government had confirmed that the price of chartering vessels for transportation of PMS by marketers had increased, but stressed that the issue had been discussed with marketer on how it would be addressed.

“We sat down with marketers to discuss these issues and how to address it. But the marketers have continued to increase the ex-depot price beyond reasonable margins,” Ahmed stated.

He added, “The increase is outrageous despite the fact that the NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited) sells at a very low price to them. We had meetings with them (marketers) and asked them to comply with the approved price, but they have continued to increase the cost.

“So we had to take action and the first we took was to shut down some of the marketing depots. We shut down seven depots. We shut down Ardova and RainOil in Lagos, as well as all their facilities.”

The Authority Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, made this known when he received a delegation from the Ivorian organisation, BNEDTD, in Abuja.

The delegation was led by the Ambassador, Director of Economic Intelligence and Monitoring Evaluation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cote d’Ivoire, Mr. Koue Alphonse.

Ahmed, in a statement on Friday, said that the strategic goals of the authority were to attract investment, expand oil and gas infrastructure and make Nigeria a regional hub while impacting the global market.

He encouraged Cote’d Ivoire to take advantage of investment opportunities in the Nigerian energy industry made available through the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act to promote economic growth and sustainable development.

Some of these investment opportunities include the supply of natural gas, propane, and butane to Cote`d Ivoire and other West African countries,” he said.

Ahmed assured the team that the NMDPRA would support and encourage investment in infrastructure, gas refining, and transportation.

Earlier, Alphonse said the purpose of the visit was to understudy the operational system in the midstream and downstream sectors with a view to expanding and enhancing areas of cooperation between both countries.

The engagement gave an insight into the workings of the regulatory institutions in the Nigerian energy sector and explored ways to widen and enhance areas of further cooperation between both countries.