Nigeria plans to establish a national strategic petroleum products stockpile this year to safeguard its economy against disruptions in the international market, the petroleum products regulator said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
Farouk Ahmed, head of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, said the reserve, which the country’s oil law mandates, would mitigate supply shocks and enhance the nation’s energy security.
Nigeria, despite its oil wealth, frequently experiences fuel shortages and long queues. The country aims to use expanding domestic refining capacity, particularly the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote refinery, to build resilience against global supply fluctuations.
While Nigeria currently maintains petroleum products reserves to cover approximately 30 days of supply, Ahmed said the new National Strategic Stock, modelled on the US’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, would be significantly larger.
He did not specify the volume of the planned reserves.