By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will no longer hold the exclusive status as Nigeria’s sole importer of petroleum, following permission granted to private oil marketers to import the commodity.
According to reports, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on Tuesday in Abuja said that permits had been given to several marketers to start importing petrol alongside the state-owned oil company.
This is in line with the decentralisation of the downstream oil sector in March. Before now, the NNPC used to be the sole importer of petrol.
The General Manager, Corporate Services, PPPRA, Mr Kimchi Apollo, confirmed in an interview with Punch, that the sole petrol importer status of the NNPC has changed, as the agency recently gave various oil dealers permission to import.
He said, “Well, as far as I am concerned, many of them (marketers) have gone to import because they took QMs from us to bring in products and I am sure they are doing that already.
“The QM is just like a pass to go and bring in products. You come to us to say you want to bring in products and then we say go ahead based on the pass that we give.”
Mr Apollo added, “So, some marketers came and they got the go-ahead permit to bring in products. So, they will be bringing in products.”
He explained that the market had become open, meaning that both the NNPC and other marketers now shopping for refined petroleum products from international refiners.
“The market now is such that both the NNPC and other marketers are on the same level of going to buy from the international market to sell to final consumers,” the GM stated.
He said all qualified marketers who approached the agency and had the competence to import petrol were cleared for such operations.
Apollo also noted that the agency had been working with the Central Bank of Nigeria to make foreign exchange available to marketers for petrol imports.
He said, “Both major marketers and others who have the competence to bring in products have been given QMs to do so. However, there are yardsticks that should be met before any marketer can bring in products.
“Also, the PPPRA is doing its best to liaise with the CBN to ensure that marketers are not discriminated against. They too should have access to forex as much as the NNPC. So they should have a level playing ground.”
The PPPRA however said it has not granted power to allow marketers to determine the price of PMS based on the competitive market situation currently in place.
The PPPRA however has still not announced a new price band following the NNPC’s reduction of depot price from N113 litre to N108 per litre on May 1.
Apollo said this was because of the COVID-19 pandemic which has brought about, “unnecessary delay to get some things done.”
“So it was then advised, and this was by all stakeholders and not marketers alone, that we should maintain this (current) price,” he added in the interview.
Modupe Gbadeyanka