Refined oil business people under the aegis of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) have written to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, demanding the curtailment of a possible monopoly of the industry by the new Dangote Refinery.
DAPPMAN said Nigerian entrepreneurs in the industry already had investments in the country’s downstream petroleum sector running into trillions of naira, with taxes paid to states by their respective employees.
According to DAPPMAN, several investments by Dangote in the past ended up seeing him monopolise certain sectors.
Signed by DAPPMAN’s Executive Secretary, Olufemi Adewole, the letter read: “We understand that this is due to the implementation of the restrictions placed on ECOWAS member nations by ‘Afri 5’ gasoil and gasoline specifications which have the resultant effect that AGO purchases can only be made from one source being the Dangote Refinery.
“It is on credible record that marketers’ AGO imports have complied with the Afri 5′ gasoil and gasoline specification of sulphur content not exceeding 50/parts per million from January 2024 despite the inability of local refining capacity, including the Dangote refinery, to meet this specification to date.
“Dangote Refinery’s AGO presently has sulphur content exceeding 700/ppm in accordance with waiver granted by the NMDPRA. This far exceeds the average of 50/ppm sulphur required for AGO imports by marketers, yet the regulator has restricted all other downstream operators from sourcing this product exclusively from the Dangote Refinery.
“This is a clear adoption of Dangote Oil Refinery as the sole supplier of AGO to the nation. This situation is detrimental not only to the downstream operators but the nation at large. It deprives Nigerians of cheaper options as the Dangote Refinery always has the final say and dictate prices without any competing alternatives.
“Dangote refinery’s initial step was to crash the price of AGO from a ‘high’ price of N1,700 per litres to N1,200/litre and later to N1,000 and later to N900/litre despite the large inventory of the imported AGO with marketers which thus could not be sold as it was imported with very high forex rate.
“Marketers with this huge volume of AGO saw the opportunity to reduce their losses when forex rates crashed and the naira appreciated against the dollar as they sought to import cheaper AGO stock to ‘blend’ their retail pump price, reduce their losses and sell off their AGO stock….
“We wish to specifically refer to the stakeholders’ meeting between our DAPPMAN members and top management of Dangote Oil Refinery. Regrettably, despite assurances at the meeting, Dangote Refinery continues to offer refined petroleum products to foreign traders at $50 per metric tonne, cheaper than the pricing to local companies.”
Dangote recently alleged that NNPC and its subsidiaries were frustrating his refinery, the largest in Africa with capacity to produce 650,000 barrels per day.
Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, had alleged the refinery was producing inferior fuel.
