PETROL SMUGGLERS MADE N17M PER TRUCK BEFORE SUBSIDY REMOVAL- NNPC LTD. READ MORE...

 

..Illegal refineries supplied total diesel consumed in the country 

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, has revealed that petrol smugglers exploited subsidy loopholes, making around N17 million per truck in neighbouring countries.

Kyari made this disclosure while addressing journalists in Abuja on the government’s efforts to deregulate the oil and gas sector.

In his words, “When we started this process of deactivation in 2022, we deactivated 8,684 illegal refineries. They are not refineries really, just boiling points, we don’t know what name to call them. Then you have integral connections to the pipeline, we had 6,610 illegal connections to the pipeline, and we have removed about 5,913, which means we still have over 1000 that have not been removed and they are there, they connect every day that we remove.

“At a point, you may not be aware, imports of AGO in the country were almost nil and there was no scarcity of AGO in the country. They are all actually boiling and at a point everywhere you go, it is the same AGO that is coming from these creeks that we are using all over the country.”

He also noted that efforts of the federal government through security operatives have achieved significant results going by the decline in illegal refineries being destroyed across the Niger Delta.

The ongoing issue of oil theft in the Niger Delta continues to be a major challenge, with military forces frequently discovering new illegal operations each week. This poses a serious problem for the Federal Government, as Nigeria struggles to meet its OPEC quota due to widespread oil theft.

In 2024 so far, Nigeria has consistently failed to meet its OPEC oil production quota of 1.5 million barrels per day severely impacting revenues and foreign exchange accruals.

The Ministry of Petroleum Resources has set a target of 2 million barrels before the end of the year.

As part of efforts to increase production and stem theft, the federal government engaged local security contractors to check against the activities of oil thieves but the degree of impact of that engagement remains to be seen.

…Direct purchase from Dangote refinery, importation will crash petrol price — Marketers  

The National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), James Tor, has said petrol prices may drop after the federal government allowed marketers to buy directly from Dangote refinery and import from other sources.

He made this statement in an interview while speaking on the recent deregulation effort by the federal government to allow marketers to directly negotiate petrol prices from Dangote Refinery.

He said this move would end the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited’s monopoly as the sole purchaser of petrol products in the country.

He also mentioned that the federal government has not only approved direct purchases from Dangote but also allowed imports from other sources.

“I can say yes (that petrol price will decline) because there will be numerous places to get the product. When people selling the product are many, definitely they will come down with the price.  

“And we that are selling it, we go for the person that is selling less, so there must be a decline. Presently, where NNPC is, the monopoly of handling everything, that is where the problem is. If they allow us to get it from Dangote refinery, after my president’s speech, we had a meeting and it was agreed that they will now allow marketers to get their products directly from Dangote refinery. And not even stopping on that, they have now agreed that they will give us a licence to import.  

“By doing so, we believe and are very confident, because we have partners in the country and outside the country that we can partner with. And we have the products at affordable prices. After all, Nigerians are our people,” Tor said.