Joseph Bakare
As prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also called petrol continues to rise in the domestic market, petroleum marketers are considering other options to help reduce the cost by augmenting in-country production with imported products.
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, confronted with this situation said importation of cheaper products will be the next option.
A statement by its National Public Relations Officer, Dr. Joseph Obele, the group said competition must be allowed in a deregulated environment as he said that the group had incorporated a business unit that would enable it to bring in petrol before December.
It disputed the allegation by Dangote Refinery that the marketers intend to import substandard products at a cheaper rate, saying the claims were not surprising.
Also, PETROAN disclosed that it was not aware of the cost of petrol from Dangote Refinery until the refinery released a press statement.
Obele stated: “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 it’s peak, hence competition should be encouraged.
“Contrarily 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.
“PETROAN has concluded plans with her foreign refinery counterparts and financial partners to import the best quality of PMS and then sell far less than the present selling rate of PMS in Nigeria”.
Similar to PETROAN, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited has said it is not involved in blending substandard petroleum products.
Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, a major operator in Nigeria’s downstream sector, has denied blending substandard petroleum products.
In a statement earlier, Dangote’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Anthony Chiejina, said: “An international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, to use it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher-quality production.
“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips to protect their domestic industries.”
Reacting to this, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, located close to the Dangote refinery, said it does not get involved in blending substandard petroleum products.
In a statement, Bob Dickerman, Chief Executive Officer of the company, said: “Deregulated commodity markets work best with an open system of multiple sellers and multiple buyers bidding to establish the market price. For Nigeria to have supply options that include local refineries or imports is the mechanism that will establish the lowest sustainable prices. A free market is also regulated to ensure that all products meet the country’s specifications and that all players behave responsibly