Marketers disclose why NNPC must sell petrol directly to marketers

• Independent oil marketers have disclosed that NNPC’s monopoly in the oil sector is destroying the market
• The marketers demanded direct access to Dangote Petrol, stressing that NNPC has not disclosed the actual price of the Dangote petrol
• NNPC had said that the Dangote refinery is free to sell to any marketer on the willing buyer, willing seller agreement

Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.

Marketers have demanded direct access to petrol from the Dangote Refinery, criticising the grip the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has on the market.

The national publicity secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, said the market should be open to all, as the NNPC is committed to willing buyers and sellers.

Group CEO of NNPC, Mele Kyari and Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote Credit: Bloomberg/Contributor
Source: Getty Images

NNPC backtracks on its promise

The NNPC had debunked claims that it is the sole buyer of the petrol from the $20 billion Dangote Refinery, adding that the facility can sell petrol directly to any marketer.

But a week later, the Nigerian government announced that the company would be the sole off-taker of petrol from the refinery.

During a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, September 13, 2024, the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, stressed that interested marketers would have to purchase petrol directly from the refinery.

Edun, represented by the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacceus Adedeji, announced that the Dangote Refinery would commence the distribution of petrol to marketers on Sunday, September 15, 2024, with an initial 25 million litres daily.

IPMAN demands direct access to Dangote Petrol

The IPMAN executive reacted to the development, saying the market should be liberalised.

According to Ukadike, the market should be open in line with the willing buyer-willing seller commitments of the NNPC, stressing that the marketers are looking at how to build logistics and come up with pricing.

Billy Gillis-Harry, the 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 sector.

300 NNPC trucks load fuel today

Legit.ng earlier reported that about 300 trucks belonging to the NNPC lifted petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, September 15, 2024.

The NNPC on Saturday said it had mobilised 300 trucks to lift PMS from the Dangote refinery today.

Punch reports that oil marketers confirmed that the NNPC began moving trucks to the plant to load products, adding that the national oil firm would also load petrol using its vessels.

The marketers stressed that the price of Dangote petrol has yet to be disclosed to the public, saying that independent marketers would only buy the commodity from the NNPC.

IPMAN’s national operations controller, Mustapha Zarma, said that Dangote had not offered independent marketers to know the actual take-off price.

NNPC reportedly bought petrol from Dangote at N766

He noted that the NNPC would offtake the product from the 650,000bpd refinery, using tankers and ships that would move petrol to Warri and Port Harcourt coastal depots.

Findings show that the NNPC said the Dangote refinery would sell petrol at N766 per litre to the NNPC.

Punch quoted multiple sources from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the NNPC, and significant oil marketers confirming that a deal to supply crude to the Dangote refinery in naira was a crucial factor in the PMS price.

A senior IPMAN official said if marketers could get the product at N766, they would need to add the transportation, levies, and other margins.

Due to the distance, he speculated that the actual and final cost of petrol at the refinery would be about N820 per litre.

Dangote releases ‘actual price’ of petrol

Legit.ng previously reported that Dangote Industries Limited had issued a statement denying that it sold Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) at N898 per litre.

The company made the statement against the backdrop of claims by NNPC’s spokesman, Olufemi Soyene, saying it sold the product to the national oil firm at N898 per litre.

Dangote disclosed in the statement that Soneye’s claim is misleading and mischievous and aimed at undermining the Dangote Refinery's achievement in addressing Nigeria’s energy crisis.

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Source: Legit.ng