While some oil marketers in Nigeria still insist on importing petrol from external markets, information from a few sources reveal that others have started to lift petrol directly from its home based Dangote refinery, without intermediation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Earlier in October, the NNPC agreed to abandon its exclusive purchase rights with the Dangote refinery. This meant that the Dangote refinery was free to deal directly with marketers concerning market rates, and how to determine price.
As reported by the Punch newspaper, marketers are now able to approach the refinery for direct commercial transactions on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis, according to a senior official at the facility.
“Marketers are already coming to the refinery to lift PMS. They are lifting directly from the refinery, not through a third party,” the official stated in confidentiality.
While he refused to disclose the price in which marketers are now lifting the product, he noted that the marketers wouldn’t be there in the first place if the price was not favorable 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.
The Punch revealed that another source showed their correspondent the trucks that were lifting the petrol.
“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 source highlighted that the refinery is focusing on guaranteeing 53% of PMS output from its crude oil supply because of the increased demand for gasoline in Nigeria and other nations.
“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.
