Petrochemical marketers have advocated for a “holistic market” where Nigerian refiners, importers, depot owners, and retail outlets are all given equal opportunities to operate under the auspices of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN).
The oil marketers expressed concern about the country’s ability to refinance or import petroleum products, but they also worry about the cost of doing so.
“PETROAN is very insistent on availability and affordability, and also much more than that is discipline, according to what the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act) says”, PETROAN President, Billy Gillis-Harry, said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Tuesday.
“We will encourage that any kind of monopolistic tendencies should not be promoted,” he said.
Everyone should be permitted to participate in the market, he said. Even importation should not constitute a crime because the PIA makes that claim available. However, we encourage our country to pursue our internal market and strengthen our economy as patriotic Nigerians that we are.
No “No Fear Of Monopoly!”
Gillis-Harry added that oil marketers don’t worry that independent refiners like the Dangote Refinery are pursuing monopoly status as they previously claimed in November.
We don’t worry that Dangote or any other refineries are attempting to become monopolistic as some people have suggested, but we will continue to advise that depot owners keep rising and that owners of retail outlets keep doing so. The whole value chain obligation to meet Nigerians ‘ needs, “he said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited-run Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are among the nation’s top ten percent, according to the PETROAN boss, who praised his employees’ loyalty to them.
Gillis-Harry said”, Our members are lifting from every possible source. We are loyal to every source that offers petroleum products.
We have a long-term relationship with the NNPCL, which has been a cooperative effort for many years, and we will continue to benefit from those relationships through our bulk purchase agreement and product distribution.
Because Dangote Refinery is a trustworthy source that we also lift petroleum products from, “We also load from Dangote Refinery.” PETROAN has also entered into a business relationship – the Dangote-MRS-PETROAN relationship. So everywhere there is product to be bought, once our members complete the processes, they start lifting products immediately. “
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The state-run NNPC, the main importer of the necessary commodities, heavily relied on imported refined petroleum products.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ₦200/litre to over ₦1000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s leading industrialist, commenced operations at his $20bn facility sited in Lagos with 350, 000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650, 000 barrels per day by the end of the year. Diesel and aviation fuel has already been supplied to national marketers, as well as gasoline at the refinery.
Source: Channels TV
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