Nigeria’s largest airside aviation fuel depot to resolve industry crisis

The depot, which is scheduled to resume operations on October 17, 2024, will resolve the age-long aviation fuel crisis faced by the industry by serving as a crucial storage and supply hub ensuring a steady availability of fuel supply to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), MMA2, MMA1, and nearby airbases.

Seven companies, Eterna Plc, Masters Energy, Techno Oil, Quest Oil, Rahamaniyya, Ibafon Oil, and First Deep Water Limited are joint owners of the project – the JUHI-2 which boasts of 46,000 square meters facility. It also comes with cutting-edge designs which includes the latest filtration systems, the ability to load four bowsers simultaneously, a jet fuel discharge system with four dedicated trucks, a modern laboratory, and state-of-the-art fire prevention measures.

For decades, the availability of aviation fuel has been a major contributing factor to the Nigerian aviation industry’s operational quagmire. With consumption levels reaching 11.18 thousand barrels per day, according to 2022 report, the launch of the JUHI-2 facility aims to reduce the burden faced by airlines in accessing the product.

The industry almost faced a crisis in 2022 with increase in prices of aviation fuel globally. According to a report by Philips Consulting, the Nigerian aviation industry spent spent $192 billion on aviation fuel alone, the industry’s largest cost item during the period which was mostly imported.

In the first quarter of 2024 (Q1’24), Nigeria’s spending on jet fuel importation dropped quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) by 87% from N239.18 billion in Q4’23, to N31 billion.

This came amid the entrance of the Dangote refineries into the market as a major producer and supplier of Jet A1 fuel to Nigerian airlines.

According to the MD/CEO of Eterna Plc and Chairman of the JUHI-2 Commissioning Committee, Mr. Abiola Lawal, the facility will boost operations in the aviation industry, including domestic, international, cargo, hajj, business jets, and other scheduled and non-scheduled flights.

These significant developments in Nigeria’s aviation industry will ensure smooth operations which will in turn, enable a steady flight pricing strategy to bring down the cost of flight tickets.