THE Federal Government said it had completed all agreements and modalities for the sale of crude to Dangote Petrochemical Refinery and other local refineries in Naira, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as the sole off-taker of refined petrol from Dangote Petrochemical Refinery.
The Minister of Finance and Cordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, disclosed in a statement on Friday, September 13, signed by the director of information and public relations, Mohammed Manga.
A Technical Sub-Committee headed by Edun had been set up on the sale of crude oil to local refineries in Naira.
Represented by the executive chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Zacch Adedeji, on Friday, the minister affirmed that “diesel will be sold in Naira by the Dangote Refinery to any interested.
“PMS will only be sold to NNPC, NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now.”
The ICIR recalled that the FEC, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, approved the sale of crude to local refineries in naira and the corresponding purchase of petroleum products in naira.
The initiative is to help reduce pressure on the naira, eliminate unnecessary transaction costs, and improve the availability of petroleum products in the country.
Since then, the implementation committee chaired by the finance minister and the technical committee have worked with NNPCL and Dangote Refinery to fashion out the details of the modalities for the implementation of the FEC approval
“I am glad to announce that all agreements have been completed and loading of the first batch of PMS from the Dangote Refinery will commence on Sunday 15th September.
“From 1st October, NNPC will commence the supply of about 385barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery to be paid for in Naira,
He announced that all associated regulatory costs from agencies of government including Nigeria Port Authority (NPA), and Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), would also be paid for in Naira.
“We are also setting up a one-stop shop that will coordinate service provision from all regulatory agencies, security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of this initiative. This will be located in NPA, Lagos,” Edun added.
The Dangote refinery had intentionally wanted its refined petrol to start hitting filling stations on Thursday, September 5, but was halted by this arrangement.
The ICIR had reported that NNPCL was to be the sole off-taker of refined petrol from the Dangote Refinery according to an arrangement to be reached by the parties.
Dangote Group’s chief executive officer, Aliko Dangote, had revealed that the FEC was working on a new pricing arrangement for refined PMS from his refinery.
He said once the arrangement was finalised, the refinery was ready to start rolling petrol into the market.
However, the Edun-led technical committee did not disclose at what price the NNPCL will be lifting PMS from the Dangote Refinery.
The ICIR has earlier reported that marketers have held meetings with the Nigerian Petroleum regulatory authorities, seeking answers to possible market dominance by the NNPCL and Dangote Petrochemical Refinery.
They also want the NNPCL to commence publication of a pricing template that would guide marketers on appropriate pricing.
The Dangote refinery had earlier disclaimed that it could not fix the price of petrol following reports that it had started selling petrol at N897 per litre to the NNPCL.
It started further that the PMS market is strictly regulated, which is known to all oil marketers and stakeholders in the sector.
“We cannot determine, fix, or influence the product price, which falls under the purview of relevant government authorities,” the Dangote Refinery had maintained.