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- Await offtake modality on petrol
Sopuruchi Onwuka
Players in the domestic petroleum products market have patronized the highly controversial Dangote Refinery in the past five months, indicating a gradual supply shift from foreign refineries.
According to market supply data available to The Oracle Today, local marketing companies from different retail and stockholding groups lifted over half a million metric tons of automotive gas oil (AGO) also called diesel and the aviation turbine kerosene (ATK) also called Jet A1 from the refinery which is located in free trade zone on the coasts of Lagos State.
The Oracle Today reports that the highly hyped and long awaited Dangote Refinery is yet the impact the domestic fuel market with any cost relief as it is yet to start supply of ultra-light motor spirits that fire vehicles driven by small and medium grade engines.
Currently, the huge refinery supplies only distillates and heavy fuels including fuel oils and different specifications of kerosene. Its catalytic cracking module is said to have come online to churn out ultra light fuels including the highly demanded premium motor spirit also called petrol. The suboptimal supply position of the refinery has limited the local market players from total switch of product importation from foreign refineries to local refineries.
Other smaller local refineries including artisanal and modular refineries also produce diesel and kerosene just as the Dangote Refinery does. This has seen substantial displacement of fuel oils imports with local products.
The volume of diesel and kerosene lifted from Dangote Refinery, The Oracle Today reports, accounts for some 60 percent of national truck-out in five months, countering reports that local petroleum marketers were yet to patronise the refinery.
Documents sourced from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) showed that independent local marketers, including Asharami, MRS Oil and Gas, AA Rano, Rainoil, Prudent, NIPCO, AYM Shafa and Danmarna, among many others, have patronized Dangote Refinery over the past months, in a seamless access to petroleum products across the nation.
Further analysis of the transactions which occurred between April and September showed marketers lifted 489,500 tons of AGO and 29, 000 tons of Jet A1 distributed across various Nigerian ports, with 17 AGO shipments to Lagos, six to Warri, two to Port Harcourt, and one to Calabar.
All three Jet A1 shipments were discharged in Lagos, the data showed.
Local players in the futures market are full of concerns over lack of clarity surrounding the availability of petrol from the Dangote Refinery, arguing that lack of clarity and timelines on petrol output from the refinery continue to affect displacement of petrol imports.
According to Olufemi Adewole, Executive Secretary, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), the sector needs to operate transparently in a manner that gives all stakeholders the opportunity to thrive and contribute significantly to the quest of ensuring “availability, reliability and accessibility of petroleum products nation-wide.”
Adewole said the alleged boycott of Dangote Refinery’s PMS was incorrect as petroleum marketers were still awaiting clearance from the government on the modalities regarding the offtake of PMS from the refinery.
“DAPPMAN as evidenced by patronage of various products from the Dangote Refinery by its members believes firmly in meeting Nigeria’s energy needs, and remains aligned to calls for the nation not to end up in a monopoly, which will only jeopardise our economic growth and development,” he said.
Adewole noted that DAPPMAN and other marketers had consistently stated that the trading of petroleum products globally rests on the critical issues of price and quality. “offtake will in keeping with the laws of demand and supply, gravitate towards sources where products can be bought at a lower price, better quality and seamless accessibility,” he stated.
He reassured Nigerians that DAPPMAN would continue to work assiduously towards giving the nation top-notch fuel solutions, whilst securing the sustainability of the sector.
