Nigeria will get $200m in badly-needed hard currency from oil majors to pay for fuel imports and ease petrol shortages that has hit the OPEC producer, the head of state-run oil firm NNPC said, Reuters reported.

As Petroleum Minister of State Emmanuel Kachikwu said, Total and Exxon Mobil will provide dollars to their local retails units, Total Nigeria and Mobil Oil Nigeria, while Royal Dutch Shell has been paired with local oil importer Conoil and Eni with Oando, according to Bloomberg.

“For the first time in this country I have been able to convince the upstream companies to provide some FX buffer over the next one year for those who are bringing in products,” Kachikwu said in a video to NNPC staff posted on his Facebook website.

Africa’s top oil producer, which needs to import most of its fuel needs, suffers from hard currency shortages due to a slump in vital oil revenues.

For weeks in March and April, motorists have been queuing at petrol stations over fuel shortages.

In March, Kachikwu said Africa’s top oil producer was in talks with Chevron, Total and ENI to get help revamping its ailing refineries.