Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has stated that petrol prices are expected to decrease once oil marketers begin to directly obtain products from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Gatekeepers News reports that Chinedu Ukadike, spokesperson for IPMAN, made this announcement during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday.
This statement comes in response to the recent directive from the federal government, which stipulates that Dangote refinery will exclusively sell petrol to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), while interested marketers are required to purchase the product from the national oil firm.
Ukadike mentioned that discussions are currently underway between the marketers and the Dangote refinery regarding the direct acquisition of premium motor spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol.
“We have written to Dangote, and he has also replied us that he’s going to give us an opportunity to sit down and discuss and I also believe that that discussion will take place. Whatever comes out of that discussion, we will make it public to Nigerians,” Ukadike said.
“Most people look at the independent marketer as those who sell petroleum products very expensively, that we are after profit, and we don’t even care about the feelings of the masses. That is not correct.
“We are optimistic that this relationship and business engagement with Dangote will break this bureaucratic distribution of petroleum products from one chain to another. Also with NNPC because the Port Harcourt Refinery is coming up.
“We are hopeful. Once the Port Harcourt Refinery comes up, we don’t want to take our product from a second tier, third tier.
“We want to take our product directly so that we can cut off all this unnecessary hiking of prices. That’s what we are advocating for. It’s very simple.”
Ukadike also spoke on how excessive supply and competition will reduce the price of petrol in the future.
“Now the Port Harcourt Refinery is around the corner. Dangote is already here and the competition will set in and the factors of demand and supply determine price. When there is excessive supply, the price will go down,” he said.
“Everybody wants to sell. It happened when the telecommunications came on board. It was very high.”
Ukadike said this will help determine how cheap petrol will be as marketers can buy from the cheapest providers.
“We will be the beautiful proprietor. We will now go to where you will get it as cheap as possible,” he said.
Ukadike mentioned that members of IPMAN are looking to purchase PMS from a refiner. However, on September 12, Dangote refinery stated that only 3 percent of local oil marketers are buying its refined petroleum products. Devakumar Edwin, the vice-president of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), explained that because of low patronage, the refinery has had to export 97 percent of its refined products.
