The Nigerian National Petroleum Limited Company (NNPCL) has formally agreed to permit oil marketers, who operate under the auspices of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), to commence the lifting of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) from its depot at a lower price.
This comes after IPMAN threatened to cease operations nationwide due to the high costs associated with loading petroleum products from NNPCL facilities.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has also committed to issuing import and off-taker licenses to the oil dealers to either import fuel directly or purchase products straight from the Dangote Refinery in line with the government plan to fully deregulate the oil sector.
IPMAN national president, Abubakar Maigandi, stated that the cost of petrol from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to NNPC was about N898/litre, but NNPC was selling the same product to independent marketers at N1,010/litre in Lagos.
“Our major challenge now is that independent marketers have an outstanding debt from the NNPC and the company collected products through Dangote at a lower rate, which is not up to N900, but they are telling us now to buy this product from them at the price of N1,010/litre in Lagos; N1,045 in Calabar; N1,050 in Port Harcourt; and N1,040 in Warri,” Maigandi stated.
However, in a new agreement reached following a peace meeting facilitated by the Director General of the Department of State Services, Adeola Ajayi, the national oil firm has permitted the loading of products to cover the N15bn owed to the marketers.
The National Publicity Secretary of IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, revealed this in an interview with Sunday PUNCH on Saturday.
“The meeting was attended by a director from the NMDPRA and the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, making it easy to shift grounds to enable independent marketers to load products,” Ukadike said.
He added that the NMDPRA agreed to issue IPMAN import licenses to enable full deregulation in the sector.
“Among what was agreed upon after a meditation process led by our National President Abubakar Maigandi, NNPCL has agreed to make some reductions and allow independent marketers to load out those tickets that amount to N15bn immediately.”
When contacted, the NMDPRA spokesperson, George Ene-Ita, claimed not to be aware of the meeting.
“I am sorry, I am not aware of any meeting or license approval. I was not part of it.”
Meanwhile, the NMPDRA has resolved to make a payment of N10bn to the oil marketers as outstanding payments under the Petroleum Equalisation Fund.
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