Petroleum Products Retail Outlet
Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has said customers may not gain from the reduction in Dangote refinery’s petrol price due to existing stock.
Gatekeepers News reports that Dangote refinery reduced its ex-depot petrol price from N950 per litre to N890 on Saturday.
Billy Gillis-Harris, president of PETROAN during an interview on Arise TV, said the constraint is due to existing stock purchased at the previous price.
He commended the refinery for the reduction by the refinery but highlighted the difficulties oil marketers face in lowering prices while selling previously purchased stock.
The president said, “You can’t see it immediately, because we’ve already bought products.”
“We’ve already purchased different kind of product that’s in our retail outlet now at the price which it was prior to the change this evening.”
“So the moment we lose N60 in that transaction, we are out of business. So we have to keep that product.”
“But the only thing that we will advocate is that any one of us that starts buying product from Dangote at that price from tomorrow, Sunday, should endeavour to reflect that price in their retail outlets.”
Gillis-Harris noted that PETROAN has already begun a major working relationship with Dangote refinery and MRS, a major petrol retailer.
He said, “So that is going to really help also in making sure that our retail outlets sell products at a uniform price.”
“And that relationship will certainly ensure that petroleum product is available in all the nooks and crannies of this country.”
He also said Nigeria’s progress in improving petroleum product availability remains commendable, adding that with local refineries coming on board, the country may gradually reduce its dependence on petrol imports.
On Saturday, PETROAN confirmed that its members have started loading petroleum products from the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
