- The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has upgraded the status of 20 oil marketers to major markets in an effort to alleviate the difficulties associated with the sales and marketing of petroleum products.
This is the first upgrade in 25 years, and there were only seven major oil marketers in Nigeria at the time, including TotalEnergies, OVH Energy (Oando), MRS, Conoil Plc, Ardova Plc, 11 Plc, and NNPC Retail Limited.
The transformation of the stations into major marketers will allow firms to transact directly with the NNPC and obtain products at regulated prices.
In turn, the major marketers will be required to sell products to consumers at regulated prices ranging from N170 to N190 per litre, depending on where they are located. This action comes as independent petroleum marketers call on the NNPC to end its monopoly in the oil market.
Some oil marketers recently criticized the NNPC’s decision to be the sole importer of petroleum products, claiming that the situation was harming the petrol market.
Abdulmutalib Rabiu, General Manager, Operations, TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria Limited, called on the NNPC to end its petrol import monopoly during a presentation at a workshop titled ‘Deregulation: Understanding the Downstream Supply Chain’ held in Lagos on Monday.
Rabiu also urged the Federal Government to grant licenses and promote healthy competition by providing access to foreign exchange to marketers interested in entering the product importation business.
“But so long as NNPCL remains the sole importer of products importation, the amount spent on importation should be published for everyone to see because it is public fund that the company is using to bring in the products,” he noted.
Since the decision was made, the NNPC’s new move to upgrade the oil marketers has been met with both praise and criticism from various quarters.
While some industry observers agree that the decision will help improve fuel supply across the country, others have questioned the decision’s significance and argued that it will have no impact on the country’s current fuel scarcity.
