Oil marketers yesterday raised concerns over the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) selling petrol produced locally at the Dangote Refinery at a higher pump price than imported fuel.
Under the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), they questioned the rationale behind this, arguing that if imported products are cheaper, there is no reason for celebration.
“If NNPC is selling Dangote’s product at a higher price than imported fuel, it doesn’t make sense. What is the point of the celebration we’ve been having?” said John Kekeocha, IPMAN’s National Welfare Officer, during an interview on Channels Television.
On Sunday, NNPC began loading the first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery, with the company acquiring petrol at ₦898 per litre from the private refinery.
Early Monday, NNPC released estimated petrol prices from the Dangote Refinery for its retail stations nationwide, clarifying that, according to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), petrol prices are negotiated between parties and not set by the government.
“The NNPC can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as Naira transactions will only commence on October 1, 2024.
“The NNPC assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100 per cent to the general public,” it stated.
In the attached document, the NNPC stated that fuel from the Dangote refinery will sell for N950.22 per litre in Lagos; N960.22 in Oyo; N980.22 in Rivers; N992.22 in Abuja; N999.22 in in Kaduna; N999.22 in Kano; N999.22 in Sokoto and N1,019 in Borno, based on the September pricing template.
A breakdown indicated that the final price from the Dangote refinery was N898.78, according to the statement, while distribution within Lagos is N15 per litre, inspection fee is N0.97, NMDPRA fee is N8.99, with an expected margin of N26.48.
Before lifting petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, NNPC retail outlets in Lagos sold petrol for around N855 and N897 in Abuja.
But the Dangote Refinery denied selling petrol to the NNPC at N898. A spokesman for the refinery Anthony Chiejina in a statement on Sunday described the claim by the NNPC as “misleading and mischievous”.
“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPC in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature,” Chiejina said.
But the IPMAN executive explained that it was assumed that the product should be relatively cheaper because it is no longer being shipped in from abroad.
He argued that the fuel that NNPC is getting from Dangote cannot be costlier than the one imported, because it has the advantage of the removal of a huge part of supply logistics.
“The products we are about to get from Dangote refinery cannot be costlier than the one imported because we have an advantage of supply logistics,” he said.
“If the Dangote refinery’s petrol price is N950 per litre without government intervention, it means under-recovery gradually comes to an end and maybe, Nigerians would get it cheaper,” he added.
Source: ThisDay
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