FUEL SUPPLY: Major Pump $200m Into Oil Facilities

Major importers of petroleum products in Nigeria under the aegis of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) say that they are pumping a whopping $200Million into the construction of a petroleum product discharge facility at the Apapa port in Lagos.
Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr Obafemi Olawore, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos last week that the proposed facility would hasten the discharge of petroleum products to all parts of the country form the premier port.
Olawore said that a firm to handle the project, SPM Ltd, had been floated by the major oil marketers and some private fuel importers.
He explained that the project involved the laying of submarine pipelines at a depth of between five and six metres below the sea bed to connect big vessels at the high sea with the loading facilities at the Apapa port.
Olawore said that construction work would commence as soon approval was received from the Nigerian Ports Authority and the other relevant authorities and that the project could be completed within 18 months.
According to him, the facility will enable bigger ships to stay on the Atlantic Ocean while their contents are pumped through the pipeline to the Apapa depot.
He noted that one of the major constraints to the importation of petroleum products had been the limited draught of the Apapa port and that a vessel more than 30,000 tonnes could not berth at the Apapa depot.
Olawore explained that the double hull vessels being used to import petroleum products could hardly berth at Apapa port due to its shallow dept.
“If any vessel is more than 30,000 tonnes, it has to stay on the high sea incurring demurrage while the importer will also incur freights on lighter vessels that will be used in conveying the products to the Apapa depot”, he explained.