KEY POINTS
- According to the company, PETROAN will import petrol cheaper than the current market rate.
- The group denies substandard product claims
- PETROAN urges transparent privatization of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, otherwise known as PETROAN, says it will import premium motor spirit, also known as petrol, into the country at a cheaper rate than the current market price.
In a statement issued Monday by its National Public Relations Officer, Dr. Joseph Obele, the association stressed the need for competition in a deregulated market and accused Dangote Refinery of making unsubstantiated allegations concerning a decline in the quality of imports.
Import plans of PETROAN to bring down petrol prices
But Obele said PETROAN had already set up a business unit to import petrol before December 2024, once regulatory agencies approve and a Naira access for it at the official rate. The imported petrol will be of quality and sold at a price that would be far below the prevailing market rate, he assured.
Obele said competition in an open market would guarantee value for money to consumers and would disallow exploitation and profiteering in such a market.
According to Vanguard,the Dangote Refinery, on its part, had also accused the marketers of attempting to import substandard products, a situation it said it was using to perpetuate its dominativeness in the oil market. But PETROAN in response, dismissed such claim.
Request of transparent refinery privatization
Apart from its import plans, PETROAN called on the Federal Government to fast track the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt and Warri refineries.
Once completed, the refineries should be privatized, the group suggested, and run by companies with the technical capacity to compete in a free market.
Secondly, PETROAN suggested using the model of the Indorama Petrochemicals in order to privatize the country’s petroleum sector in a transparent manner and to avoid monopolistic control of the sector.
