Oil marketers have confirmed that they will start lifting Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery next week.
While some revealed that they had started sending trucks to the Lagos-based multi-billion dollar plant to load products from Sunday, others stated that their tankers would hit the refinery any day from next week.
It was also gathered that some dealers are expecting imported petrol before the end of this month.
Saturday PUNCH gathered on Friday that the vessels of some major marketers would arrive in the country in the next 10 days.
Although the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, recently announced that only NNPC would lift PMS from the Dangote refinery at the moment, oil marketers stated on Friday that they had already commenced moves to load their trucks with petrol from the plant.
The initial daily supply from the refinery is anticipated to be 25 million litres.
“We should start loading from the plant next week and aside from that, so many marketers are planning to import PMS before the end of the month,” a major marketer, who spoke to our correspondent in confidence due to lack of authorisation to comment on the matter, stated.
The source added, “This means the deregulation of PMS prices has set in fully. Nobody wants to be at the whims and caprices of NNPC again.”
On whether there was an agreement on the price of Dangote petrol, the dealer replied, “The agreement on price has not been reached yet, but what I asked our people was how sure are we that we will get the market if we bring in products at about N1,100/litre?
“They now said many people are fed up with NNPC, adding that there will be an adequate market for the product. So, people should gear up for a price of about N1,200/litre, even from the depots. I know that many are going to bring in products to stimulate competition.
“In fact, for specifics, our imports should arrive in the country in the next 10 days all things being equal. So, we are doing both imports and Dangote, and that is the same with most major marketers. I don’t know which imports are going to come in first, but I know that about three or four major marketers are expecting products.”
Last week, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, declared that the downstream oil sector had been fully deregulated, as the government was not fixing petroleum products’ prices again.
“What is important is that the government is not fixing prices. This sector is deregulated. And we believe that with the availability of products, the price (of petrol) will find its level. And this is important for Nigeria to know.
“There is enough product in the country to be able to meet the demands of Nigerians, there should be no panic buying. And we also believe that Nigerians need to know that the government is not fixing prices. That is what I want to convey to Nigerians,” Lokpobiri had said.
