Economy
Petrol Station Owners Set for Price War With Dangote
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) is set to engage the Dangote Oil Refinery in a price war.
On Monday, the association maintained that its members could sell petrol cheaper than the price Dangote refinery was currently offering oil marketers in Nigeria.
Dangote had on Sunday accused PETROAN of planning to make Nigeria a dumping ground for substandard petroleum products.
The company stressed that any organisation that imports fuels lower than it is currently selling was selling low-quality products.
However, in a statement by its National Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Obele, the group said its members have already successfully incorporated a strategic business unit for that purpose.
The organisation noted that the agenda of President Bola Tinubu for the oil sector remains inimical to advocates and beneficiaries of a monopolistic market.
PETROAN stressed that President Tinubu’s interventions were meant to liberalise the downstream sector by building an all-inclusive market.
“Intensive or aggressive competition in any market brings the best value for money exchange for a commodity. Consumers get the best value for pricing when competition is at its peak, hence competition should be encouraged.
“Contrary to competition, such a market will be exploitative and strictly for profiteering. The publication by Dangote refinery that PETROAN will import substandard petroleum products is not coming as a surprise to stakeholders, because such is his usual gimmick for maintaining a monopoly,” it added.
PETROAN argued that it has never compared the price of Dangote petrol with any other, based on the fact that Dangote’s price wasn’t known until the company’s disclosure recently.
“PETROAN has concluded plans with her foreign refinery counterparts and financial partners to import the best quality of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and then sell far less than the present selling rate of PMS in Nigeria.
“We planned to enter the market before December 2024, pending the approval of our import permit licence by the regulatory agency and access to foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the official rate.
“Before now, Dangote Refinery had refused to make public her selling rate of PMS until IPMAN and PETROAN announced readiness to sell less. The rate of N990 as announced by Dangote Refinery was inconsiderate based on the fact Dangote Refinery enjoyed massive concessions for accessing foreign exchange during the construction of the refinery.
“The core determinant for setting the price is a consideration for the cost of production, then the addition of a fair margin. But this wasn’t the case for the determination of PMS price by Dangote Refinery as they said the parameter was in comparison with the international selling rate at the global market,” it accused.
It also noted that diesel as a deregulated product was selling for less than N800 in the Nigerian market a few weeks before the commencement of diesel production by the Dangote Refinery.
“At the entrance of the market by Dangote refinery, we witnessed a rapid surge above N1,000. PETROAN uses this medium to commend Mr President for his commitment towards the revamping of the nation-owned refineries.
“We will maintain our position by counselling that the Port Harcourt and Warri Refinery plant after rehabilitation should immediately be privatised and handed over to a reputable firm that has the technical capability, managerial skills and financial strength in partnership with PETROAN and other critical stakeholders.
“This will enable the operators of the government-owned refineries to withstand aggressive competition that will be posed by the known beneficiaries of the monopolistic market,” it added.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited recorded its first loss in nine consecutive sessions after it finished in the red territory on Friday by 0.12 per cent.
This decline suffered by Customs Street was caused by profit-taking in the industrial goods sectors, which tumbled by 0.31 per cent at the close of trading activities.
It upturned the gains recorded by the other sectors, as the banking space grew by 1.66 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 1.05 per cent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 1.03 per cent, and the energy sector gained 0.31 per cent.
When the market ended for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 118.93 points to 101,129.09 points from 101,248.02 points and the market capitalisation shrank by N72 billion to N61.303 trillion from N61.375 trillion it ended a day earlier.
Despite the poor performance, investor sentiment was bullish as the bourse finished with 39 price gainers and 15 price losers, representing a positive market breadth index.
Multiverse lost 9.80 per cent to trade at N4.60, Aradel Holdings tumbled by 9.09 per cent to N664.00, International Energy Insurance slumped by 8.13 per cent to N1.47, Coronation Insurance declined by 4.49 per cent to N1.70, and Nigerian Breweries moderated by 3.33 per cent to N29.00.
On the flip side, UAC Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to close at N30.25, Honeywell Flour also increased by 10.00 per cent to N6.05, Universal Insurance jumped by 10.00 per cent to 44 Kobo, Learn Africa rose by 9.92 per cent to N3.88, and NAHCO improved by 9.89 per cent to N46.10.
During the session, investors transacted 515.6 million shares valued at N16.5 billion in 11,554 deals compared with the previous day’s 411.4 million shares worth N26.3 billion traded in 10,260 deals a day earlier, indicating a decline in the trading value by 37.26 per cent, and growth in the trading volume and number of deals by 25.33 per cent and 12.61 per cent, respectively.
Zenith Bank was the most traded stock for the session with 60.4 million units valued at N2.7 billion, UBA exchanged 43.5 million units worth N1.5 billion, Sterling Holdings sold 43.3 million units for N216.3 million, Universal Insurance transacted 28.3 million units valued at N12.4 million, and GTCO traded 23.5 million units worth N1.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange grew by 0.87 per cent on Friday, December 20, spurred by Okitipupa Plc and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc.
During the session, the market capitalisation of the trading platform added N8.98 billion to settle at N1.043 trillion compared with the preceding day’s value of N1.034 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) ended the day at 3,043.27 points after adding 26.20 points to the previous day’s closing value of 3,017.07 points.
Yesterday, the price of Okitipupa Plc went up by N2.98 to close at N32.72 per unit compared with Thursday’s closing price of N29.74 per unit and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc increased by N3.84 to wrap the session at N43.84 per share versus the preceding day’s N40.00 per share.
Business Post reports that the volume of securities traded at the bourse by investors on the last trading day of the week went up by 182.1 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 419,682 units recorded a day earlier.
In the same vein, the value of shares traded yesterday increased by 2,089.4 per cent to N51.2 million from the N2.3 million achieved in the preceding session, and the number of deals went down by 45.5 per cent to 12 deals from the 22 deals carried out in the previous session.
At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with a turnover of 1.7 billion units valued at N3.9 billion, Okitipupa Plc occupied the second spot with 752.3 million units sold for N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc was in the third position with the sale of 297.7 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with the sale of 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.3 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc was in third with 297.7 million units sold for N5.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira suffered a marginal decline against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, December 20 by 0.02 per cent or 30 Kobo to settle at N1,541.68/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,541.38/$1.
This marginal slide came as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) moved to alleviate some pressure by allowing Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators to access the official market for a period of 50 days.
The CBN in a notice on Friday said BDC operators would have access to FX at the official market from December 19, 2024, to January 30, 2025, with a weekly cap of $25,000, with transactions requiring upfront funding at prevailing rates and must follow a maximum of 1 per cent spread.
This development trails the launch of the CBN-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) which began operations earlier this month and has led to a rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.
The system is expected to instantly reflect data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN, giving traders real-time prices and buy-sell orders data.
But against the British Pound Sterling, the domestic currency appreciated yesterday by N6.46 to trade at N1,929.77/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,936.23/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency depreciated by N60.21 to quote at N1,597.64/€1 versus N1,537.43/€1.
In the parallel market, the Naira maintained stability against the greenback during the trading session at N1,650/$1.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was bullish on Friday after a hawkish tone in this week’s FOMC meeting flipped market sentiment ahead of the new year.
The positive outcome came as inflation slowed in the US and offered respite to the market, with Cardano (ADA) growing by 9.3 per cent to trade at $0.9825, as Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 8.2 per cent to sell at $0.3463, and Ethereum (ETH) gained 4.1 per cent to settle at $3,535.49.
Further, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 3.9 per cent to $104.94, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.3 per cent to $199.76, Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 2.2 per cent to $690.84, Ripple (XRP) surged by 1.9 per cent to $2.36, and Bitcoin (BTC) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $98,654.80, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism8 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking6 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years agoHow To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN