This was posted on Downstreamer's Petroleum Forum:

Fuel scarcity worsens in Imo Guardian 2000-02-04

THE current fuel scarcity in Imo State is worsening with the attendant hike in transport fares.

Longer queues have appeared in filling stations with a large number of people crowding the few that have the commodity.

To control the situation, filling stations now ration their fuel to motorists who pay extra N100 or more for a 20-litre fuel.

Black market operators have also resurfaced as fuel is now sold by road sides at exorbitant prices.

The result is that transport fares have increased by about 100 per cent.

At the early stage of the fuel crisis, the state government met with petroleum dealers and warned of dire consequences for hoarders.

But the situation has not improved as dealers who get supplies from the Aba depot do not get enough to distribute.

On the streets and outskirts of Owerri, a crowd of commuters, mainly civil servants and students, struggle for the few buses and taxi cabs that still operate.

Oil Crisis in Nigeria

http://www.nigerianews.net/cgi-local/getNewsArticle.cgi?id=7403

-- Bill P (porterwn@one.net), February 04, 2000

Answers

I recall reading about one or two refineries and/or pipelines that had shut down in Nigeria, allegedly because of terrorist incidents. And I assume that Nigeria's domestic oil usage is normally supplied from its own refineries, etc.

So does this news mean that the country is not producing enough oil even for its own use? Or does it mean that the producers are exporting everything they can produce (e.g., in order to generate hard currency), and letting their own people suffer the consequences of the shorta

-- Ed Yourdon (ed@yourdon.com), February 04, 2000.

Got Shoes?

-- Teague Harper (tharper@cyberhighway.net), February 04, 2000.

Shoes? Shoot. Petroleum goes into those vinyl soles!

Got moccasins?

-- JIT (justintime@rightnow.net), February 04, 2000.

Oil to soften the leather comes from petro chemicals! Got bare feet?

-- pam&bob (P&B prepped@pikes peak.com), February 04, 2000.

Good question Ed. Knowing the government as I do and assuming that theirs is just like ours I would have to say it's a case of hooray for the Gov> and screw the people.

-- David Whitelaw (Dande53484@aol.com), February 04, 2000.