President Salva Kiir has ordered State-owned oil company Nilepet to immediately stop issuing individual licences to fuel tankers in a bid to stem illicit trade.

The South Sudanese leader said Wednesday evening that the dealers were supplying oil to the black market at exorbitant prices causing a fuel crisis in the country.

Mr Kiir also directed officials from his office, Nilepet, National Security, Finance and Petroleum ministries to set up a task force within 72 hours that will crackdown on the illicit fuel dealers.

The stipulated price for a litre of petrol is 22 South Sudan pounds ($0.18). In the black market it costs 900 South Sudanese pounds ($7.2).

For motorists it is an agonising search for the fuel. The oil-rich country is plagued by sporadic fuel shortages – since its independence in 2011, paralysing the transport sector, businesses and government departments that rely on the petrol to power generators.

President Kiir has directed Nilepet to find ways to supply the commodity directly to government institutions and private firms in order to curb the current shortage.

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