The National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, James Tor announced that petrol prices could drop as the federal government has permitted marketers to purchase fuel directly from Dangote Refinery and import from other sources.
Tor made this statement in an interview while speaking on the recent deregulation effort by the federal government to allow marketers to directly negotiate petrol prices from Dangote Refinery, according to Nairametrics.
He noted that this move would eliminate the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited’s monopoly as the exclusive purchaser of petrol products in the country.
This shift is expected to enhance competition and potentially lead to lower prices for consumers.
He also highlighted that the federal government has approved not only direct purchases from Dangote Refinery but also imports from other sources.
“I can say yes (that petrol price will decline) because there will be numerous places to get the product. When people selling the product are many, definitely they will come down with the price.
“And we that are selling it, we go for the person that is selling less, so there must be a decline. Presently, where NNPC is, the monopoly of handling everything, that is where is problem is. If they allow us to get it from Dangote refinery, after my president’s speech, we had a meeting and it was agreed that they will now allow marketers to get their products directly from Dangote refinery. And not even stopping on that, they have now agreed that they will give us license to import.
“By so doing, we believe and are very confident, because we have partners in the country and outside the country that we can partner with. And we have the products at affordable prices. After all, Nigerians are our people,” Tor said.
It was previously reported that the federal government granted marketers the license to purchase petroleum products directly from Dangote Refinery, following NNPC’s decision to step back as the middleman in transactions between the two parties.
The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, said the direct purchasing mechanism allows marketers to negotiate commercial terms directly with the refineries, fostering a more competitive market environment and enabling a smoother supply chain for petroleum products.
“New Direct Purchase Model: The most significant change under the new regime is that petroleum product marketers can now purchase PMS directly from local refineries. This marks a departure from the previous arrangement where the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPCL) served as the sole purchaser and distributor of PMS from the refineries,” he said.
The transition of NNPC Limited from being the sole buyer of petroleum products from Dangote Refinery to allowing marketers to purchase directly represents a significant move by the Federal Government toward fully deregulating the oil industry.
