The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has granted major petroleum marketers permission to begin lifting premium motor spirit, commonly known as petrol, from Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
This move is in line with the existing agreement between NNPCL and the refinery.
Under the initial agreement, NNPCL was designated as the sole distributor of the refinery’s petrol. The first consignment under this arrangement consists of 16.8 million liters, which has been lifted by NNPCL’s retail entity, according to Vanguard.
This development marks a significant step in enhancing fuel distribution across the country.
One of the marketers who pleaded anonymity, said “I can confirm that we have some major marketers already lifting from the Dangote Refinery, but it is still under the NNPC arrangement with the refinery, in other words, we are lifting NNPC product from the Dangote refinery. It is not our product. We have no direct arrangement with the refinery.”
It is however that independent marketers have not been included in this modified arrangement.
The National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Abubakar Garima confirmed that only NNPCL has access to fuel from Dangote Petroleum Refinery, with the company discharging the majority of products to its retail outlets.
He added that they are not currently purchasing fuel from NNPCL under the Dangote Refinery arrangement.
“Independent marketers are waiting for NNPCL to give the new price of the petroleum products in order to lift from them. We load at the old rate of N875 per litre as most of our members have outstanding stock with NNPCL; we were told that they will be cleared this week,” he said.
Under the agreement that designates NNPCL as the sole off-taker of petrol from Dangote Refinery, marketers have indicated they may need to resort to importation to sustain their operations. Consequently, they have urged the Federal Government to fully open up the sector to all participants.
The Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Chinedu Ukadike stated that the group intends to start importing its own petrol.
“There has been no progress in the situation. We have been waiting for NNPC and nothing has changed. We have information that at least three marketers are bringing in products from outside of the country. This is Dangote’s chance to work with independent marketers.
“We are asking Dangote to sell to us at the same price as NNPC. We don’t understand why he has to depend solely on NNPC to distribute its product when he has other willing buyers.
“We are also looking at importing to keep our business. We are also asking the Federal Government to also hand over the Port Harcourt Refinery to independent marketers. We will engage capable people to manage it. That is the only panacea to this problem”, he added.
