Three IOCs commence fuel importation into Nigeria — NMDPRA

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, has revealed that three oil companies have commenced importation of fuel into Nigeria.

Farouk said this at a crucial meeting of stakeholders in Lagos.

He said of the 56 oil marketing companies that applied for licences, 10 have demonstrated commitment while three have imported fuel into the nation.

Ahmed listed the three companies as A.Y. Ashafa, Prudent and Emadeb that imported 59,000 litres, 15,000 litres and 30,000 litres, respectively.

Recall that following the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the Federal Government, Mele Kyari, Group chief executive officer (GCEO)of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), had said due to the enabling environment that the subsidy removal would engender, oil marketing companies will be able to import petrol.

“The beauty of this is that there’ll be new entrants because oil marketing companies know the result of their reluctance to come into the market all along is the very fact that there’s a subsidy regime that is in place, and that subsidy regime doesn’t have the guarantee of repayment back to those who provide the product at subsidised prices,” Kyari had said.

Earlier the Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Mr Olumide Adeosun stated that oil marketers have the capacity to import petrol into the country, while importation licenses are renewed on a quarterly basis.

He added that the challenge to importation would be the balanced wind-down of NNPCL imports as the private sector takes the burden, while waiting for the onboarding of local refineries.

“The reality is that many of us have importation licenses that have never lapsed. We renew them on a quarterly basis via the NMDPRA portal.

“Some of us are also importing diesel, so we need these licenses. The licenses cover multiple products such as ATK, PMS, and AGO.

“The regulator will tell you that we need them even when we are receiving products from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), particularly on the high sea,” said Adeosun.