(Ecofin Agency) - Fuel queues continue to appear in major cities throughout the country in spite of the suspension of protest embarked upon by oil workers over the restructuring at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Daily Trust reports.

Workers’ strike on Wednesday had added to the fuel shortages crisis as product depots, mega filling stations and other critical facilities were shut down, worsening the fuel distribution situation in the country.

NNPC, had announced the suspension of the strike by members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) on Thursday stating that the strike action was suspended after a meeting with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Emmanuel Kachikwu in Abuja.

“The problem of queues at the service stations in Nigeria is an old one and it cannot be solved at once. The availability of products, the behavior of part of the depot owners and marketers and, sometimes, of buyers, logistical aspects, the presence or absence of NNPC outlets and the very poor functioning of Nigerian refineries are key issues. The reform of subsidies is very important but the next main step is to be able to produce refined products out of the refining system. There has been some progress on this way but the road ahead remains difficult and costly. According to the NNPC the refineries' average utilization rate was only 13, 6% in January as against zero in November 2015,” Francis Perrin the chairman of Strategy and Energy Policy and the Editor of Arab Oil & Gas told Agence Ecofin.

Anita Fatunji