Petroleum marketers reported that in just five months, they had removed 518,500 metric tonnes of Jet A1 and Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) from the Dangote refinery, accounting for 60% of all truck outs nationwide.
This runs counter to remarks attributed to Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, who claimed that regional petroleum merchants were boycotting the refinery.
The depot owners claimed that records from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority demonstrated that independent local marketers, among many others, such as Asharami, MRS Oil and Gas, AA Rano, Rainoil, Prudent, NIPCO, Aym Shafa, and Danmarna, had been frequenting the Dangote refinery in recent months. These marketers said that this development furthered their pledge to guarantee easy access to petroleum products throughout the country.
They claim that between April and September, marketers hoisted 489,500 MT of diesel and 29,000 MT of Jet A1, which they then distributed around many Nigerian ports, with 17 cargoes of diesel going to Lagos, six to Warri, two to Port Harcourt, and so on to Calabar.
It is said that all three of the Jet A1 shipments were released in Lagos. The marketers noted that one obstacle to local market consumption continues to be the lack of certainty surrounding the supply of Dangote refinery’s Premium Motor Spirit, or petrol.
Olufemi Adewole, the Executive Secretary of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, asserts that the industry must function openly and honestly in order to support the growth and vital contributions of all parties involved in the effort to guarantee the accessibility, dependability, and availability of petroleum products across the country.
Adewole denied that the purported boycott of the Dangote refinery’s PMS was true, stating in a message given to a news correspondent on Saturday, that petroleum marketers were still awaiting government approval on the procedures for the refinery’s PMS offtake.
“DAPPMAN, as evidenced by the patronage of various products from the Dangote refinery by its members, believes firmly in meeting Nigeria’s energy needs and remains aligned to calls for the nation not to end up in a monopoly, which will only jeopardise our economic growth and development,” he stated.
Adewole observed that DAPPMAN and other marketers had repeatedly said that price and quality are the two most important factors in the global trading of petroleum products.
Offtake will, in keeping with the laws of demand and supply, gravitate towards sources where products can be bought at a lower price, better quality and seamless accessibility,” he added.
Adewole gave Nigerians confidence that DAPPMAN would keep working to ensure the sector’s sustainability while offering the country excellent fuel options.
