The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun distributing Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, to some oil marketers directly rather than through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
While additional oil marketers were increasing their efforts to purchase the product directly from the facility, others were importing the commodity, with hundreds of millions of litres of imported PMS expected to arrive in Nigeria within the next two weeks.
It was gathered on Monday that no fewer than four ships carrying imported PMS arrived at seaports along the country’s borders between Friday, October 18, and Sunday, October 20.
The article referenced a document received from the Nigerian Port Authority indicating that around 123.4 million litres of PMS were berthed at two seaports to boost fuel supplies nationally.
The discovery confirmed the report, which stated that oil traders want to import the product to boost supply from the $20 billion Dangote refinery.
Meanwhile, while large oil marketers import the commodity, their counterparts have begun lifting PMS directly from the Lekki plant.
A top official at the Dangote refinery stated that marketers can now approach the corporation for direct business transactions on a willing-buyer, willing-seller basis.
“Marketers are already coming to the refinery to lift PMS. They are lifting directly from the refinery, not through a third party,” the reliable official, who spoke in confidence due to a lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.
The source, who could not reveal the price at which marketers were lifting the product, noted that the oil dealers would not come if the price was not favourable 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.
He emphasised that things are improving, especially as the Federal Government commenced the supply of crude to the facility.
Another official at the refinery showed one of our correspondents the trucks of some marketers loading the product directly from the plant without going through NNPC.
“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 official explained that due to the high demand for fuel in Nigeria and other countries, the Dangote refinery had focused on ensuring 53 percent of PMS production from its crude oil supplies.
“This could be reviewed in the future if the demand for other finished products increases more than the demand for petrol, but right now about 53 percent of our crude is used for petrol production, while other products account for the remaining percentage,” the official stated.
Speaking on if marketers had started the direct purchase of petrol from Dangote without recourse to NNPC, one of the notable major marketers in the country replied in the affirmative.
“Yes, everyone is in the process. This was advised that it would happen soon and is a normal business transaction,” the source stated.
