Seven daughter vessels carrying a combined total of 150 million litres of petrol trapped on the high sea at the Escravos channel, a key oil terminal in the Niger Delta, have been identified as the reason for the current supply crises.
BusinessDay learnt there is a shortage of daughter vessels to evacuate more than enough petroleum products from mother vessels to Nigerian jetties and terminals due to the seven vessels trapped at Escravos, leading to breaks in the supply chain.
“The supply chain in Nigeria is very fragile at times. It’s very complicated, and there are only small things like bad weather or low tide that need to go wrong to cause some disruption,” Huub Stokman, the managing director of NNPC Retail Limited and chairman of the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria said.
He added, “Five empty vessels expected to deliver fuel to the Warri area cannot get out of Escravos, while two vessels laden with products are waiting to go through the Escravos channel.
