Price Of Fuel To Drop As Marketers Buy Directly From Dangote Refinery
The planned direct purchase of fuel by Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) directly from Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to bring down the cost per litre to N700 or below.
It was gathered that members of IPMAN are ready to evolve a competitive market after its scheduled meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited this week.
Billy Gillis-Harry, President of PETROAN, who stated this at the weekend, said that any moment from now its members should start lifting products from the Dangote refinery, adding that it is good news for everyone.
Commenting on the expected drop in the price of petrol, Gillis-Harry expressed optimism that the price of fuel can be knocked down to N700 per litre.
According to him; “It depends on the volatility of the market and this does not always mean upward prices, it could also mean prices coming down”.
The Federal Government last week granted permission to petroleum marketers to lift petrol directly from the Dangote refinery without going through the NNPC Ltd.
Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Naira-crude sale implementation committee, Mr Wale Edun, in a statement, said petroleum product marketers would henceforth be able to purchase PMS (petrol) directly from local refineries without the intermediary role of the NNPC.
Spokesman of IPMAN, Mr. Ukadike, said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority had issued a bulk purchase license for independent marketers to enable them off-take from Dangote refinery.
Ukadike said; “The NMDPRA has issued a bulk purchase license for independent marketers so that we can offtake from the Dangote refinery. We want this to take effect immediately. We have also been promised an import license so that we can import. These are the factors of deregulation.
“When you implement it, you have put all the stakeholders in the same line so that competition will be healthy. It is not putting some people before others.
“How can we buy products at N1,040 and say there is competition? It is designed to edge us out and make us dependent on NNPC and its sources,” he said.