The first batch of petrol, about 27 million litres that was imported by an independent marketer has arrived in the country, this puts an end to a downstream monopoly market once enjoyed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
ST Nnene, as the vessel is called, was earlier billed to arrive last week, but was delayed off Lome waters due to adverse weather, arrived at Ijegun-Egba on Wednesday following the official end to subsidies by President Bola Tinubu on May 29.
ST Nnene, cost Emadeb Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, Adebowale Olujimi, and its bank partners of $17m (about N13b) to hire. The deal was bankrolled by five commercial banks, namely: Polaris, First Bank, Union Bank, Access Bank and Fidelity bank.
Until now, state oil firm NNPCL had enjoyed a monopoly downstream market for years. The firm had singlehanded imported petrol consumed in-country, and had dictated prices.
While speaking at the ceremony, Olujimi said petrol importation was no longer sustainable.
He said, “Petrol importation is not a sustainable way for a country to run. From what we saw yesterday when PMS price rose to over N600 per litre, it is an indication that the dynamics of the business is a tough one. It requires huge US dollars to bring in this. The way forward is for local refineries to be revived,” he said.
Representing the Chief Executive Officer, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, Sadiq Bashir, explained that the development was an important milestone since the downstream sector was deregulated.
He said, “This is what we have been looking forward to. When we talk about deregulation, people think it’s all about increasing prices. No. Although prices would now be determined by market dynamics, deregulation also opens up the market for other players to come in.
“Yes, we would experience teething problems at first; however, if market forces are allowed to come into play, prices would eventually go down due to high competition. We assure that NMDPRA would continue to ensure quality control of products being sold to the public.”
