The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has offered to supply 60 million litres of petrol to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) weekly.
If the supply deal pulls through, it will see the refinery supplying no less than 240 million litres of petrol to the marketers monthly.
According to a report by The PUNCH, the refinery, however, said the supply will depend on patronage.
Oil dealers have said that petrol prices are declining following the competition occasioned by the deregulation of the sector, especially as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and other marketers imported over two billion litres of PMS in 42 days.
IPMAN National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, told The PUNCH, in an interview that members of the association can lift any quantity of PMS allocated to them by the Dangote refinery as they are the ones distributing the majority of the fuel imported into the country.
“We are going to off-take the product in millions of litres. Before now, most of the imported products in Nigeria were distributed through IPMAN. So, we can off-take the products, no matter the millions of litres that are produced,” he stated.
Asked whether there is an agreed volume that IPMAN would off-take from Dangote once independent marketers start loading petrol from the plant, the National Publicity Secretary replied, “We can take from 10 million litres and above and Dangote has offered to give us over 60 million litres depending on our patronage.
“The 60 million litres is to be given weekly. And we can take and distribute it across the country once we start lifting the product from the refinery.”
On when IPMAN would start lifting the product, Ukadike stated that this would be made public after both parties had concluded discussions on the deal.
He expressed confidence that the direct supply would begin before the end of November.
Ukadike spoke further, “IPMAN has gathered its members and we have developed a Special Purpose Vehicle to off-take the products from the refinery. So, the issue of individuals going to buy one or two trucks has gone. IPMAN is now going to be a major distributor and our money will be guaranteed.
“The time has gone when some dealers will tell us they have products when they actually do not, and they will lock up our money in their system. So, we are taking this as a very effective measure to be able to ensure that the distribution value chain is efficient.”
