The Dangote refinery may have to export its Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited refused to remain the sole buyer of its product.
As deliberations continue about buying and selling locally refined PMS from The Dangote Refinery, The NNPC, in a statement by its spokesman, Olufemi Soneye, said on Saturday that it would not patronize Dangote fuel unless it was cheaper than that of the international market.
The NNPC also emphasised that Dangote, other domestic refineries were at liberty to distribute directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, and that it had no desire or intention to become the distributor for any entity in a free market environment.
The Petroleum company stated this in response to a press release by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), which claimed that the Dangote refinery was being undermined by the NNPC.
According to the press release by MURIC, the recent changes to the pump price of petrol by the NNPC would prevent the refinery from offering lower prices, adding that the corporation had become the sole off-taker of all products from the refinery.
Responding, the NNPC said, “The pricing of petroleum products from any refinery, including Dangote Refinery Limited, is determined by global market forces.
“The recent changes in PMS prices have no impact on DRL or any other domestic refinery’s access to the Nigerian market. In fact, if current prices are perceived as high, it presents an ideal opportunity for the refinery to sell its products at lower prices in the Nigerian market.
“Furthermore, we emphasise that there is no guarantee of lower prices associated with domestic refining compared to any global parity pricing framework, as confirmed by the DRL.’’
The NNPC added that it would only fully offtake petrol from the refinery if PMS market prices exceeded Nigerian pump rates.
‘’The NNPC Ltd will only fully offtake PMS from the DRL if the market prices of PMS are higher than the pump prices in Nigeria. The DRL and any other domestic refinery are free to sell directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, which is the current practice for all fully deregulated products. NNPC Ltd has no desire or intention to become the distributor for any entity in a free market environment, and therefore, the notion of becoming a sole off-taker does not arise.” The Statement added.
This contradicts comments made by Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, that the refinery was waiting for the NNPC to release its product.
Last Tuesday, while unveiling the first batch of Fuel production by the Refinery, Dangote had stated that the facility would roll out petrol whenever the NNPC was ready.
According to him, the petrol would get to the filling stations in the next 48 hours (from Tuesday) after all arrangements with the NNPC were concluded.
He said “Our PMS can be in filling stations within the next 48 hours, depending on NNPCL,”
“We are ready. I pray that within the next few days, you won’t see any petroleum queues as soon as we finalise with NNPC. We are ready, we are waiting for them (NNPC) and I hope they will be ready like yesterday.”
“On the pricing, I can’t say anything because we don’t control the pricing. At the moment, it is controlled by NNPC, not Dangote. We will wait for them. But, our own for now is to make sure that the product is available and round-tripping is stopped,”.
READ ALSO:Edo-first-lady-obaseki-responds-to-viral-childlessness-video
