Nigeria is to import 4.8 billion litres of fuel for the second quarter of 2012.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency has issued the permits for the importation, put at exactly 3.575 million metric tons or 4.794 billion.
Forty-two companies are to import the fuel.
The PPPRA said sanctions would be applied where companies default.
The PPPRA said to prevent any company defaulting, it made criteria for qualification for the contract satisfactory performance in the first quarter.
The statement by PPPRA read in part: “The volumes to be supplied into the system for Q2, 2012 is based on marketers’ performance in the past, and their ability to secure the needed financing.
“From Q2 onward, failure of a company to deliver the approved volume shall render the company liable for exclusion from the scheme for two successive quarters or more, aside from the payment of appropriate re-engagement fees to the agency.”
Among companies to import the fuel are the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, ExxonMobil and Total downstream subsidiaries, Oando and Conoil.