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The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria is poised for talks with Dangote Petroleum Refinery between Tuesday and Wednesday to finalise agreements on the cost and lifting of petrol from the plant.
It was learnt on Sunday that the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria had been asked by the $20bn Lekki-based refinery to resend its request for petrol lifting.
This came as PETROAN expressed optimism that the cost of petrol might reduce in the coming days once the competition in the downstream oil sector sets in fully, as marketers load the commodity from the refinery.
Meanwhile, IPMAN described the planned agreement with the Dangote refinery as a crucial step in the association’s ongoing efforts to facilitate the lifting of petroleum products, thereby contributing to the stability and efficiency of the country’s fuel supply chain.
Last week, the Federal Government granted permission to petroleum marketers to lift petrol directly from the Dangote refinery without going through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Naira-crude sale implementation committee, Wale Edun, had in a statement, said, “Moving forward, petroleum product marketers are now able to purchase PMS (petrol) directly from local refineries without the intermediary role of NNPC.
“Marketers are encouraged to initiate direct purchases from refineries on mutually negotiated commercial terms, which will promote competition and improve market efficiency.”
Providing an update on Sunday, the National Publicity Secretary of IPMAN, Chinedu Ukadike, said the association hoped to meet with officials of the Dangote refinery for discussion as it is ready to commence a healthy business relationship with the refinery.
Ukadike, who spoke during an interview on Arise TV, said the association had acquired tank farms to enhance its storage facilities, thus addressing a challenge that had previously hindered operations.
He said, “We hope to sit down with Dangote maybe Tuesday or Wednesday and if they give us a template or price, we will move to Dangote. I want to reassure you that we have all it takes to off-take whatever Dangote will give to us. I don’t know why they are dragging their legs to discuss with marketers, maybe it is politics.
“The more we take action in terms of distribution lines, the price will come down, we are not afraid of this competition, we have organised ourselves and are ready to compete because this is the survival of the fittest.
“The issue of not having tank farms is gone because we have addressed the issue and now have farm tanks and anywhere Dangote says they will give us our products, we will distribute them to our marketers.”
Ukadike stated that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority had issued a bulk purchase license for independent marketers so that they could off-take from Dangote refinery.
On the debt owed to oil dealers by the NNPC, Ukadike said, “The NNPC boss has agreed to load out all our tickets that are in their system and unlock the money. Sometimes we get these monies from bank loans and when it is locked up, we incur bank charges which also affect the price of fuel.
“They haven’t loaded us out as I speak to you now; they have also not revealed the new price. It is only when they do that, that we will look at the remittance we are going to pay but our president insisted that since this money has been locked up with them, they should give us at the old price so that we can use it to cushion the bank charges and other expenses we have incurred so far.
“By Monday or Tuesday, the new price will be out and I will announce it. We don’t want that impression that independent marketers are selling higher than NNPC.”
Continuing, IPMAN sought the government’s assistance in financing by creating an energy bank to assist marketers following the huge cost of interest rates affecting price increases.
“We are working with security agencies to ensure that products are not stolen out of this country, and products meant for independent marketers go to their stations. Also, we are working to ensure there is nothing like adulteration.”
He said independent marketers were on the verge of collapsing because of the huge amount invested in buying one truck of 45,000 litres of petrol.
He lament that “Before the subsidy removal, we bought products at N8.1m, but now we are buying it close to N50m. How many people can survive that?”
