Nigeria Jet Fuel Shortage Update and How ITPs Can Help: Days into 2018 and severe challenges in obtaining jet fuel persist in Nigeria. Here is our summary of the situation and what ITPs can do to ensure they get the best for their clients.
Nigeria’s jet fuel shortage is caused mainly by infrastructural issues:
All of the fuel consumed in Nigeria is imported. This is despite the fact that the country is Africa’s largest producer of crude oil, but Nigeria’s three refineries are currently inadequate and obsolete.
There is stiff competition for the allocation of insufficient forex and suppliers are continually struggling to procure forex to import.
When the product arrives the country, another major challenge is evacuating it from the seaport. There is only one seaport- Apapa Port- to handle all imports of petroleum products into the country. Then, the product can only be evacuated through dilapidated and highly congested roads, and this can cause chaos.
Even when the product manages to leave the loading port, it may not reach airports in the hinterland like DNAA, DNKN, DNPO, DNEN etc. because of bad and congested roads. It can take up to five days to move a truckload of fuel from loading point at Apapa in Lagos to Abuja Airport, a distance of about 750km which should typically take approximately 18 hours for a slow moving truck. The result is that fuel is being consumed faster than it is supplied.
The situation was further compounded recently by a fire outbreak at the main loading jetty at Apapa which is yet to be completely fixed.
However, the situation is not hopeless.
The damaged loading jetty facility at Apapa is currently undergoing accelerated repairs to return it to full loading capacity.
The access roads to the ports are being redesigned with expansion and repair works starting in the coming months.
The country’s three refineries are being refurbished and upgraded to increase refining capacities. While this may not have a direct increase in locally supplied JET -A1, it will impact indirectly by reducing fierce competition for scarce forex which at present has the chunk allocated to the importation of PMS and AGO for vehicles and private electricity generation.
Recently, there’s been welcome reports of the expected commissioning of the world’s largest single refinery in 2019, which, at full production capacity, will create a national fuel surplus and even export possibilities.
How ITPs can ensure they get the best for their clients:
1. Maintaining a good relationship with all suppliers in the country will ensure you get preferential treatment when suppliers can help.
2. Strong relations will also ensure Fuel Sales and Ops teams get regular intelligence reports for planning.
3. Clever financial engineering is required to ensure guaranteed supply. Whether you secure full credit with suppliers or they are demanding you prepay, be prepared to negotiate.
For more tips on how to best serve operators and plan missions, visit UAS Blog.
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Mitch Launius
Instructor Pilot for 30 West IP
Mitch is the CEO of 30 West IP where he is also an instructor providing pilot training on international procedures. With an illustrious career of over 34 years in the cockpit, Mitch has acquired over 13,000 hours of flight time flying worldwide, with over 9,000 hours of this in Challenger and Gulfstream aircraft. He is an experienced safety officer and was also an IS-BAO project manager for a fortune 500 flight department. He has presented on Safety and Operations topics at the NBAA International Operators Conference and the Canadian Business Aviation Association Convention and is currently on the NBAA International Operators Committee and serves as the North Atlantic Regional Lead. Mitch is also a member of an FAA working group on General Aviation International Authorizations and Tabletop Exercises (GIATE). He was recently selected to represent IBAC as a member of the ICAO Personal Training and Licensing Panel (PTLP) and was also recently named as a 2020 recipient of the NBAA Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award for his contribution to the business aviation community.
Henry ‘Duke’ LeDuc
Director Of Operations, Americas, UAS International Trip Support
Duke has been a dearly respected member of UAS Americas team and the UAS global family for more than five years. A safety-oriented, FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he oversees all of the operations of the elite UAS Operations Team. With twenty-five years of experience in aviation overall with more than fifteen years of experience in international flight planning and VVIP trip coordination, he is responsible for the development of the dispatch training program and involved in the strategic development of UAS Americas. With a myriad of rich aviation experience behind him, he has extensive experience in worldwide operations with both corporate and charter environments, including seven years as Operations/Dispatch Manager in an industry-leading, Fortune 500, IS-BAO Stage III Certified corporate flight department. Duke is frequently asked shares his knowledge at major industry events and is currently serving on the NBAA’s International Operators Conference (IOC) Planning Committee.
Dudley King
President and Founder, FlightBridge
Dudley is the Founder and President of FlightBridge, which he established in 2011 and has been focused on technology solutions for the private aviation industry since 2006. Since he graduated from Dartmouth in 1988, he has worked with an array of companies listed anywhere from VentureWire to the Fortune 100. A rare blend of executive, entrepreneur, and consultant, Dudley’s executive roles have included acting CIO positions for several companies and tech advisory services to CEOs trying to rebuild their technology organizations or looking for an external, professional point of view. Highly skilled at deeply understanding his customer’s business challenges and drawing from a long and varied experience in information technology services, Dudley excels at designing technology solutions to solve their problems.
Dr. Paulo Alves
Global Medical Director, Aviation Health, Medaire
Paulo has extensive experience in medical advisory in the aviation industry. As a cardiologist, he provides technical guidance and analysis for MedAire’s MedLink medical advisory service and is MedAire’s liaison with civil aviation regulators and industry associations. Paulo worked with Varig Brazilian Airlines for 23 years, 10 of which were spent as General Medical Manager. A member of the MedAire Medical Advisory Board, Paulo is also President of the Ibero-American Aerospace Medical Association, a member of the International Academy of Aerospace Medicine, a member of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Safety Committee, a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), and a Fellow of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. Throughout his illustrious career, Paulo has held industry leadership roles including Chairperson of the AsMA’s Air Transport Medicine Committee, President of the Airlines Medical Directors Association, President of the Brazilian Society of Aerospace Medicine and was a member of the IATA Medical Advisory Group from 2002 to 2006.
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