Marketers have demanded direct access to Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) from the Dangote refinery, criticising the firm grip of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on the market.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, said the market should be open for all in line with the willing-buyer and willing-seller commitment earlier made by the corporation.

The NNPCL had last Saturday said it was not the sole off-taker of products from the Dangote refinery, adding that the refinery was free to sell its petrol to any marketer.

But a week after the statement, the Federal Government announced that the company would be the sole buyer of petrol from the refinery.

At a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, noted that interested marketers would have to buy the product from the national oil firm through its trading company.

Dangote petrol at N766/litre

Sunday PUNCH gathered that the Dangote refinery would sell its petrol at N766 to the NNPC.

Multiple sources from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPC, and major energy marketers confirmed that the deal to supply crude to the Dangote refinery in naira was a key factor that led to the PMS price.

“What we are going to see based on the deal between NNPC and Dangote is similar to the DSDP (Direct Sale of crude oil and Direct Purchase of petroleum products) transactions that used to exist between NNPC and foreign refineries in the past.

“And this has really impacted positively on the price of petrol that Dangote is selling to NNPC, because the cost is around N766/litre. But I can’t tell how much NNPC is going to sell to marketers now,” a major marketer, who spoke to Sunday PUNCH in confidence due to lack of authorisation to comment on the matter, stated.

Another senior aide to President Bola Tinubu, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the petrol would be sold at 766/litre.

Pump price may reduce

Reacting to the Dangote fuel price, a senior IPMAN official said if marketers could get the product at N766, they would need to add the cost of transportation, levies, and other margins.

He said, “Give and take, we can sell at N790 in Lagos. In the far north, it may be N820 per litre because of the distance.”

Punch