The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has offered to supply 60 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria weekly, which translates to 240 million litres monthly.
It was gathered from the association that the refinery agreed to give 60 million litres of PMS to IPMAN members weekly, depending on patronage.
This came as it was gathered that the $20bn Lekki-based refinery is aiming to raise billions of dollars to import crude oil and increase production.
Also on Sunday, oil dealers stated that petrol prices were declining following the competition occasioned by the deregulation of the sector, especially as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and other marketers imported over two billion litres of PMS in 42 days.
In an interview, IPMAN National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, said members of the association can lift any quantity of PMS allocated to them by the Dangote refinery, stressing that independent marketers were the ones distributing the majority of the fuel imported into the country.
“Apples Bite” recalls that the association announced recently that it had signed an agreement with Dangote to lift PMS directly from the refinery without a middleman.
Giving an update, Ukadike said, “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.”
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.
“We are finalising discussions. You know the meeting between IPMAN and the Dangote refinery was held last week and documentation is in process. So, there are still a few pieces of documentation that we are doing now. Once they are sorted, we will off-take PMS from the plant.
“This is going to happen before the end of this month. The Dangote Group has assured us that even if we want to start taking products from today, we should start,” he added.
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.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
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