Marketers Load Petrol From Dangote Refinery, Flood Market With Imported Products

Oil Marketers have started buying petrol directly from the Lagos-based The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, The Punch reports.

The development comes few days after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL informed that it has stopped its role as the off-taker of petrol also known as Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, from the $20 billion petrochemical refinery.

The marketers are now buying from Dangote, PMS, on a willing-seller, willing -buyer modality, the newspaper said quoting different sources from both the NNPCL and Dangote.

The report however said that some marketers have also decided to jilt Dangote by importing their products from abroad.

The report cited a document obtained from the Nigerian Port Authority, which showed that about 123.4 million litres of PMS were berthed at two seaports to improve fuel supply nationwide.

A senior official at the refinery said marketers are now allowed to approach the company for direct business transactions on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.

“Marketers are already coming to the refinery to lift PMS. They are lifting directly from the refinery, not through a third party,” the reliable official, who spoke in confidence due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.

The source, who could not tell the price at which marketers were lifting the product, noted that the oil dealers would not come if the price was not favourable to them.

“We have reached agreements with some of the marketers and more are still ongoing. I don’t know the exact price, but if the price is not good, the marketers would not be coming to us,” the official stated.

He maintained that things are improving, especially as the Federal Government commenced the supply of crude to the facility.

Another official at the facility showed one of our correspondents the trucks of some marketers loading the product directly from the plant without going through NNPC.

“Some of the trucks you saw there today were from marketers purchasing the product directly from Dangote, without recourse to NNPC. So the direct sale has started,” the source stated.

The official explained that due to the high demand for petrol in Nigeria and other countries, the refinery had focused on ensuring 53 per cent of PMS production from its crude oil supplies.

“This could be reviewed in future if the demand for other finished products increases more than the demand for petrol, but right now about 53 per cent of our crude is used for petrol production, while other products account for the remaining percentage,” the official stated.

When asked if marketers had started the direct purchase of petrol from Dangote without recourse to NNPC, one of the notable major marketers in the country replied in the affirmative.

“Yes, everyone is in the process. This was advised that it would happen soon and is a normal business transaction,” the source stated.