Marketers have demanded direct access to Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) from the Dangote refinery, criticizing the firm grip of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the market.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) argued that the market should be open for all in line with the willing-buyer and willing-seller commitment earlier made by the corporation.
“The market should be liberalized. It should be open for all in line with the willing-buyer and willing-seller comments made by the NNPC. We are also looking at how to build our logistics and come up with our price,” said Chinedu Ukadike, National Publicity Secretary of IPMAN.
Billy Gillis-Harry, National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Association of Nigeria, raised concerns over the risks of creating a new domestic monopoly in the oil and gas sector. “Right now, even on Saturday, that business (petrol) is going to start rolling out tomorrow (Sunday), we don’t know what the price might be. Nobody has informed us about anything; we are not aware of what the government is doing.”
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The NNPC has agreed to buy petrol from the Dangote refinery at N766 per litre, according to sources from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and major energy marketers. The price is influenced by the agreement to supply crude oil to Dangote in naira.
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The Dangote refinery is set to commence the distribution of petrol to marketers on Sunday with an initial 25 million litres per day. The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, announced that interested marketers would have to buy the product from the national oil firm through its trading company.
The NNPC has mobilized 300 trucks to lift petrol from the Dangote refinery, according to the corporation’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye. The price of Dangote petrol has not been made public yet, and independent marketers will only buy the commodity from the NNPC for now.”
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