SA, Angola, and Namibia will soon be able to get fuel from the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical.
A reliable source told one of our reporters on Friday that the management of the plant, which can process 650,000 barrels of oil per day, was well along the way in talks with the countries to start lifting fuel.
Our reporters heard that the plant was also in talks with four other African countries: the Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic.
Ghana was said to be interested in getting gasoline from the $20bn refinery in Lekki not long ago.
Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Chairman of the National Petroleum Authority of Ghana, said that the deal with the Dangote refinery would stop his country from having to buy $400 million worth of fuel from Europe every month.
“I can confirm that talks are moving forward with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa,” the source said. “Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic are also about to start talks.”
When asked why merchants won’t buy from Dangote even though the refinery has enough capacity, the source said the dealers had a secret plan.
“But between now and January 2025, their plan would be made public.” The Dangote refinery is still the country’s best hope for a steady supply of gasoline, and the source said that the plant could serve the whole country.
At the same time, local retailers have decided to bring in fuel from other countries.
Last week, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria said that Nigerians should import fuel because they thought that the Dangote plant was charging too much for fuel.
The merchants are waiting for the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to give their permission to bring in cheaper gasoline.
Marketers said that bringing in cheaper gasoline would help people who are still getting used to the price increases since the fuel rebate was taken away.
But in order to move forward, the marketers asked the CBN for access to foreign cash and NMDPRA for permits to make sure they met standards for fuel quality and regulatory compliance.
However, the NMDPRA has denied reports that IPMAN and PETROAN were able to get licenses to import petrol as a group.
An NMDPRA official, who spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity because the problem was sensitive, said that the agency could not approve the request of oil marketers to get an import license as a group. Instead, each request would have to be looked at separately.
The person also said that each application was required by law and could not be put off.
“The truth is that they can’t apply for a gasoline import license as a group or organization.” Individual salespeople have to fill out an application on their own before they can get that license. They need to apply on their own. They can’t apply as a group because we’re not going to give them the pass together.
“That means that individual marketers can’t get it either if they don’t apply for it.”
In response, Dr. Joseph Obele, National Public Relations Officer of PETROAN, said that the group asked for the import license about a month ago through its newly formed trading wing.
He said that Dangote was a “aggressive competitor” who would do anything to get a majority share of the market.
“Dangote just wants to lock all the doors and windows so no one can get into the market,” you should know. He is set on making sure that no one else joins the market to compete with him. Once the government agency gives us permission to import, we promise that the price of PMS that is currently making Nigerians suffer will drop to the lowest possible level.
“The product we want to bring into the country is one of the best so far—much better than Dangote’s own. But he’s just telling Nigerians that no product coming into the country is better than his.”
“We want Nigerians to support the call to break up monopolies so that the market can be freed up. If they don’t, we will stay stuck in this trap.” “Right now we are trapped with exploitation, and the only way out is to break down every aspect of monopoly. We need the support of all Nigerians to do this,” Obele said.
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