The federal government has said Dangote Petroleum Refinery will start the distribution of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, on Sunday.
Minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun
spoke on Friday at a press conference in Abuja.
The minister, who was represented by Zacch Adedeji, executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), said all agreements have been completed for the loading of the first batch of petrol.
“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, September 15,” Edun said.
He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited will supply about 385,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) to the Dangote refinery starting next month.
“From October 1, NNPC Ltd. will commence the supply of about 385,000 bpd of crude oil to the Dangote refinery, to be paid for in naira,” he said.
“In return, the Dangote refinery will supply PMS and diesel of equivalent value to the domestic market, to be paid in naira.”
The minister also said the Dangote refinery will sell petrol to only the NNPC, noting that interested marketers would have to buy the product from the national oil firm.
However, the minister said the Dangote refinery can sell diesel to any off-taker.
“Diesel will be sold in naira by the Dangote refinery to any interested off-taker. PMS will only be sold to NNPC, NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now,” he said.
Edun’s statement is at variance with NNPC’s claim on September 7 that it does not intend to be the sole distributor of petrol produced by the Dangote refinery.
Also, Edun said all associated regulatory costs pertaining to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and others would also be paid for in naira.
“We are also setting up a one-stop shop that will coordinate service provision from all regulatory, and security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of this initiative. This will be located in Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Lagos,” Edun said.
“The technical committee that worked to flesh out this initiative will transition to an implementation execution and monitoring committee that will be working out of Lagos for the next three to six months.”
