After a long anticipation of fuel supplies from the famous Dangote refinery marketers are yet to lift petrol from the refinery due to unresolved price issues, 9am News Nigeria has learnt.
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said issues with pricing has stalled the lifting of petroleum from the refinery, a now protracted problem.
Making the announcement, Abubakar Maigandi, National President of IPMAN said a lack of agreement on pricing still persists between parties involved in the supply chain.
“We have not been supplied petrol from Dangote Refinery as we wait for the NNPC on pricing” Maigandi said.
A petroleum marketer Mohammed Abdullah involved with IPMAN gave comments saying “we are still selling old stocks of petrol. There is still so much uncertainty about pricing or when we will lift Dangote petrol” Abdullah said.
NNPC Price Release
On Monday September 16, NNPC released a range of prices for petrol, pegging petrol price at between N950 – N1020 per litre depending on the location within Nigeria.
But oil markets are voicing concerns that the current high prices issued out by NNPC would drive further importation of petrol into Nigeria as imported petrol would be selling lower.
A major oil markets (names withheld) has disclosed that many vessels of imported petrol are currently on their way ferrying petrol to Nigeria due to the higher price of locally produced petrol.
He explained saying “This is because for whatever is coming out of Dangote refinery, there is not enough transparency in the allocation of the product and there are issues regarding price”.
“Also, some big players may not get enough quantity from the plant and they will have to complete this with imported products. Like I told you, all things being equal, from as soon as September 17 (yesterday), Petrol vessels imported from foreign countries should start coming into the country”, the oil marketer said.
Renown lawyer Femi Falana giving his valued opinion and legal perspective on the issue said “The market has been deregulated, meaning that petrol prices are now determined by market forces rather than by the government or NNPC Ltd. Additionally, the exchange rate plays a significant role in influencing these prices.
“The action of the NNPC is a violent contravention of Section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which stipulates that the prices of petroleum products shall be determined by market forces”.
NNPC’s Adedapo Segun Explains Dangote Petrol Price Discrepancy
Executive Vice-President Downstream at NNPC Adedapo Segun gave a meaningful breakdown of the current situation. In his comments made available to Ogasabi of 9am News Nigeria he said “The thing happening with Dangote as I said earlier is that Dangote refinery is a company and it will sell at market price,”
“”The current market value of petrol far exceeds the price at which NNPC sells it, due to NNPC’s subsidized petrol.” So, there is no way the marketers would buy from Dangote because they cannot sell as low as NNPC is selling”.
“As soon as the price allows for it, you will see the marketers go to Dangote and buy.
“So, instead of saying NNPC is the only off-taker, let’s put it this way: NNPC is the only entity that is willing to off-take because NNPC has a role under the law to be the energy provider of the resort”.
What this means is that if the price of petrol goes up higher then marketers would start buying Dangote petrol because it would then be profitable to sell.
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