Rita Odafe
Even with domestic petrol supply from the Dangote refinery, three key oil distributors in Nigeria are set to import petrol this week.
According to reports, approximately 141 million litres of petrol (PMS) are being shipped to Nigeria now that the Federal Government has fully deregulated the country’s downstream oil sector.
The recent rise in petrol prices from the Dangote refinery and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has paved the way for these imports.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has stated that all inbound petrol shipments must undergo several key assessments before they can be sold nationally.
The NNPC recently declared that petrol refined at the Dangote facility would be sold at prices exceeding N1,000 per litre in the north, with the lowest set at N950 in Lagos and nearby areas.
An industry insider confirmed the full implementation of sector deregulation, indicating that imports are anticipated this week.
Each shipping vessel is expected to carry roughly 35,000 metric tonnes of petrol.
“Typically, marketers import three shipments for these transactions, with each shipment starting at 35,000 metric tonnes of PMS. It’s common for marketers to bring in two to three shipments at once,” the insider shared.
“We anticipate three distributors to bring in products this week. However, the exact timing of these imports can be uncertain due to various regulatory influences. It’s not a straightforward process to import products and immediately commence sales.
“Regulatory bodies like the NMDPRA must evaluate factors like quality and compliance before the product arrives. When shipments land, they will be sampled and tested in their laboratories,” the insider added.
When asked if all three shipments would arrive this week, the distributor explained;
“Not all three shipments will arrive simultaneously. Distributors usually stagger their imports, so one shipment may arrive this week, with others following weeks later. Such logistics involve storage constraints.
“It’s not a quick process. You cannot expect multiple vessels to arrive on consecutive days; that’s impractical. This is different from smaller-scale imports of 20,000 or 30,000 litres of petrol.”
