A fleet of trucks at the Dangote Refinery, located in the
Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State, began lifting Premium Motor Spirit, known as
petrol, on Sunday.
The trucks, belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation Limited, were seen in videos posted on the X handle of the Dangote
Group.
The tweet read, “First set of trucks set for loading of PMS
at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.”
Another tweet read, “NNPC begins PMS lifting at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.”
The $20bn Lekki-based facility is equipped with 86 gantries making it possible to load 86 trucks simultaneously.
At the start of the process, 10 trucks drove into gantries
while their compartments were filled with petrol from a computerised gadget,
the Nigerian Television Authority reports.
The loading of the Dangote petrol signifies an end to the
month-long debate over the quality and sale of the product.
However, one major issue that remains unresolved is the
price at which the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery would sell the product to
oil marketers and subsequently, the public.
Meanwhile, the national oil firm, in a tweet on Saturday,
noted that hundreds of trucks would be deployed to the refinery today (Sunday)
for PMS loading.
The NNPC stated, “In preparation for the Dangote Refinery’s
scheduled petrol loading on Sunday, September 15, 2024, NNPC Ltd has been
mobilising trucks to the refinery’s fuel loading gantry in Ibeju-Lekki. As of
Saturday afternoon, NNPC Ltd had deployed over 100 trucks, with hundreds more
en route.”
The Federal Government, through the Minister of Finance and
the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, announced on Friday in
Abuja that the NNPC would be the sole buyer of petrol from the refinery, adding
that the refinery would commence the distribution of petrol to marketers on
Sunday with an initial 25 million litres per day.
This followed the national oil firm’s statement that it was
not the exclusive off-taker of products from the Dangote refinery and that the
refinery was free to sell its petrol to any marketer.
He said, “I am glad to announce that all agreements have
been put in place, and the loading of the first batch of PMS, as already
announced by NNPC, will commence on Sunday, September 15, 2024. And from
October 1, NNPC will commence the supply of crude oil to the Dangote refinery
to be paid in naira.
“In return, Dangote refinery will supply PMS and diesel of
equivalent value to the domestic market to be paid in naira. But for now, PMS
will only be sold to NNPC. NNPC will then sell to various marketers.”
The National Publicity Secretary, Independent Petroleum
Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, said the market should be
open for all in line with the willing-buyer and willing-seller commitment
earlier made by the corporation.
“It should be open for all in line with the willing-buyer
and willing-seller comments made by the NNPC. We are also looking at how to
build our logistics and come up with our price,” he stated.
Also, the National President, Petroleum Products Retail
Outlets Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, raised concerns over the
risks of creating a new domestic monopoly in the oil and gas sector.
Gillis-Harry said, “Right now, even on Saturday, that
business (petrol) is going to start rolling out tomorrow (Sunday), we don’t
know what the price might be. Nobody has informed us about anything; we are not
aware of what the government is doing.
“We don’t know any of the pricing templates yet or the
matrix that will bring about the pricing template. We have been asking Dangote
or anybody that is in charge of this transaction to be transparent, but somehow,
we have not got any of that information.
“We are about to leave NNPC monopoly from importation and
now we are also going to have that in a domestic environment, that portends
danger for the industry.”
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