A general view of a fuel station closed in the outskirts of Niamey, on March 9, 2025. Since the beginning of the month, Niger has been facing an unprecedented shortage of Super petrol, the most widely used fuel in this Sahelian state of 26 million inhabitants. The country has experienced fuel shortages before, but never on this scale. The country's only refinery, Soraz, 'can no longer meet domestic demand', which has been soaring 'for more than a year', the state-owned Société nigérienne des produits pétroliers (Sonidep) said on March 8,2025. The main cause is the drying up of the flourishing black market supplied from neighbouring Nigeria, an economic giant and one of the world's leading oil producers, where prices tripled in 2023 after the government abolished petrol subsidies, according to Sonidep. (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP) (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA/AFP via Getty Images)