Last week’s gasoline shortages in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, were caused by disruptions in offshore fuel transfers and flooding that impeded deliveries, according to state oil company NNPC Ltd on Monday.
Despite President Bola Tinubu’s administration opening gasoline imports to private firms last year, NNPC remains the sole importer due to foreign currency shortages and a cap on petrol prices.
NNPC spokesperson Femi Soneye explained that thunderstorms had hindered ship-to-ship transfers of gasoline from large vessels to smaller distribution ships. Additionally, flooding along trucking routes has restricted deliveries from coastal depots to Abuja, which is located hundreds of kilometers inland.
Soneye did not specify when normal operations would resume.