•Says pricing remains a big issue
Marketers have expressed optimism that they would be able to lift premium motor spirit (also known as petrol) directly from Dangote Refinery as scarcity of the product persists across the country.
Checks around Abuja, yesterday, showed most retail outlets were still without the product three months after the current shortages began.
Speaking, the Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, explained that the marketers were optimistic about reaching an agreement that would allow them to get supply directly from the $20 billion refinery.
Chief Ukadike disclosed that a meeting has been scheduled this week between the independent marketers and officials of the refinery.
He said: “There is a meeting scheduled for this week between Dangote and IPMAN. We are happy that Dangote has set on a new course in terms of looking to other stakeholders to distribute its products.
”It is now distributing to major marketers and we are hopeful that with time it will start distributing to independent marketers.
“For the refinery to also start distributing through the coastal areas with vessels is a good move. This will remove the ghost scarcity that has persisted for a long time. Once it takes off effectively, ghost scarcity will be gone.”
He noted that pricing remains a big issue in the distribution of petrol, stressing that independent marketers have to lift the product at a price that would allow them to be competitive.
Speaking on the N766 per litre supply to major marketers, Ukadike said: “It’s not a good price now but I must tell you that supply will determine price. Deregulation is all about competition and the factors of demand and supply come to play. When the product is enough within the country, the price will go down.”
