Nigeria: Main cities face petrol shortage

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Oil-rich Nigeria’s main cities were facing acute petrol shortages as importers felt the pinch of a plummeting local currency, tighter credit lines and unpaid government subsidies, oil traders and local industry sources said this week.

As queues of double-parked cars stretch outside filling stations in Abuja, empty tanks elsewhere are forcing consumers on to the black market just weeks before presidential elections.

Nigeria exports around 2 million barrels a day of crude oil but is almost wholly reliant on imports for the 40 million litres a day of petrol it consumes.

Nigeria’s state oil company tried to reduce panic buying on Friday by announcing additional supplies but to little avail.

Reuters