By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has disclosed that it is no longer the sole importer of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
The state-owned oil firm confirmed this development on Thursday evening.
In a post via its verified Twitter page, the NNPC said, “NNPC Limited is no longer the sole supplier of petrol.”
This announcement comes a day, after the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said it had granted three oil marketers licences to begin the importation of petrol into the country from July 2023.
The chief executive of NMDPRA, Mr Farouk Ahmed, said this on Wednesday during a meeting with oil marketers, where he noted that there was an urgent need for product standardisation to prevent situations where consumers might be cheated by the importation of off-spec products into the country.
According to him, the meeting was aimed at raising awareness of the requirements of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 regarding the full deregulation and importation of petrol.
The NMDPRA boss said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had agreed to reduce its petrol import volume to give room for other players in the industry, “therefore any marketer licenced to import petroleum products must comply with set guidelines”.
“Already, three oil marketers will, from July this year, start importing petroleum products into the country,” he further said.
Adedapo Adesanya