As against the claims of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited of not being the sole off-taker of refined petrol from Dangote Refinery, Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has said the products will only be sold to NNPC.
The NNPC, through Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer on Sunday had explained that there is no guarantee of lower prices associated with domestic refining compared to any global parity pricing framework, as confirmed by the DRL, adding that it will only fully offtake PMS from the DRL if the market prices of PMS are higher than the pump prices in Nigeria.
He explained that 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 offtaker does not arise,” he added.
However, the Minister who was represented by Zacch Adedeji, the Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Friday, at the Technical Sub-Committee meeting on the sale of crude oil to local refineries in Naira, said that diesel from the Dangote Refinery will be sold in Naira to any interested off-taker, while PMS will only be sold to NNPC, NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now.
The minister announced the completion of all agreements and modalities for the implementation of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval on the sale of crude to local refineries in Naira and corresponding purchase of petroleum products in Naira.
FEC under the leadership of President Tinubu had approved the sale of crude to local refineries in Naira and corresponding purchase of petroleum products in Naira. This initiative is aimed to reduce pressure on the Naira, eliminating unnecessary transaction costs, and improving the availability of petroleum products in the country.
“Since then, the implementation committee chaired by the Hon. Minister of Finance and the technical committee have worked intensely with NNPCL and Dangote Refinery to fashion out the details of the modalities for the implementation of the FEC approval.
“I am glad to announce that all agreements have been completed and loading of the first batch of PMS from the Dangote Refinery will commence on Sunday 15th September. From 1st October, NNPC will commence the supply of about 385kbpd of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery to be paid for in Naira.
“In return, the Dangote Refinery will supply PMS and diesel of equivalent value to the domestic market to be paid for in Naira. Diesel will be sold in Naira by the Dangote Refinery to any interested offtaker. PMS will only be sold to NNPC, NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now,” he said.
He added that all associated regulatory costs (NPA, NIMASA, etc.) will also be paid for in Naira.
The government, according to the minister was also setting up a one-stop shop in Lagos, that will coordinate service provision from all regulatory agencies, security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of this initiative.
