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A pricing row is currently going on between Dangote Refinery and the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL following the roll out of petrol and product lifting, from the private refinery.
Dangote refinery yesterday, rolled out about 16.3million liters of PMS to NNPCL out of expected 25million liters having a shortfall of 8.7million liters.
NNPCL and Dangote had earlier agreed, that transactions will be consummated in dollars, but are currently having issues on the actual cost in naira.
Sources from the NNPCL revealed that the Dangote supply came at N898/liter, which the Dangote refinery refuted in a statement calling it misleading and mischievous.
According to the Chief Communications Officer of the NNPCL, Olufemi Sonoye, he asked Dangote to tell Nigerians the actual cost. He said “We have issued Letters of Credit for the product, and there’s an invoice. Let them disclose the price.”
With the supply from Dangote refinery, The NNPCL is now expected to come up with a pricing template and make same available to Nigerians.
To facilitate the distribution of the product supply, NNPCL mobilized some 300 trucks and a vessel; the trucks will lift products to the South west and Northern axis of the country, while the vessel will load and berth the product in the South South for the South East and South South region.
Meanwhile Billionare businessman, Femi Otedola in a tweet on X said “Kudos to President Tinubu for making this a reality! Fuel queues are now a thing of the past as Dangote Refinery starts loading PMS today (Sunday 15, September 2024).”
In a statement yesterday, The Group Chief Branding and Communications officer of the Dangote group, Anthony Chiejina confirmed that Dangote refinery, “sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing” and asked the public to await a formal announcement on the pricing by the technical sub-committee on the naira-based crude sales to local refineries.
In describing the smooth takeoff of petrol supply from Dangote refinery, Chiejina said that it was a milestone achievement that broke decades of energy insufficiency and insecurity.
He further stated that “With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.
Meanwhile the Vice President of Dangote industries Ltd, Edwin Devakumar yesterday said that 44% of products of the refinery can meet local demand while the remaining 56% will be exported to generate the much needed forex for the country.
He said that Said he: “If you look at the refinery as a whole, PMS alone, every day, if we’re processing 650,000 barrels of crude, we can generate more than 54 million litres of PMS. And, of course, the refinery has the capacity to produce various other products too.
“Forty-four per cent of the production can meet the entire requirement of the country, and 56 per cent of the production has to be exported. It is a huge refinery.
“So, it is not only going to be doing import substitution, but it is also going to make forex generation through export revenue. The gantries are actually 86 and it can load 86 trucks at a go.
“My President has been giving presentations that 52 years ago, we were trying to see how to solve the problem of PMS supply and the queues. Now, after 52 years, we have a solution. And the solution is local production of PMS and it is from a Nigerian oil company. As an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor, it was constructed by a Nigerian company.
“So, it’s a matter of pride that a Nigerian oil company, constructed by a Nigerian-owned company, is able to generate PMS from the local crude and daily will not only meet the entire requirement of Nigeria but can also have surplus to export. So, it is a time and moment of great pride to every Nigerian.”
In his reaction to the current happening, The Executive Secretary of Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Olufemi Adewole said “With falling crude oil prices, except Dangote Refinery had hedged its crude oil purchases, imports might soon be cheaper.”
In his own opinion, Joseph Akinlaja, A former Secretary General of NUPENG said that “The current situation with fuel in the country is a result of mismanagement of our system. It is a shame that we have crude oil and we cannot refine it. He said that all stakeholders are using this opportunity to make money for themselves
“There is no way you can control what you import because of foreign exchange and the rates which include the cost of transportation.”
“The way we have floated our naira makes it hard. It is something that got spoilt a long time ago, including leadership failure.
“In other countries without crude oil, they buy fuel at a relatively cheaper rate because of the way they arranged themselves.”
