Some consultants within the oil and fuel sector have mentioned Nigeria was not ripe to cease the importation of refined petroleum merchandise, asking the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to not bow to strain.
The consultants acknowledged this within the wake of allegations by the NMDPRA Chief Govt, Farouk Ahmed, that the Dangote refinery needed him to cease issuing licences for the importation of gas.
Ahmed held that he didn’t grant the request to keep away from monopoly and guarantee vitality safety within the nation.
The remark from the regulator appeared to have irked Nigerians, a lot of whom referred to as for his elimination.
Talking with our correspondent, an vitality guide, Henry Adigun, condemned the NMDPRA for making feedback concerning the Dangote refinery in public.
He held that a lot of the issues mentioned by Ahmed have been true, however they sought to not be made public.
Based on Adigun, Nigeria ought to solely cease gas importation when not less than three to 4 refineries are working within the nation.
“We can’t cease the importation of gas now till we’ve about three to 4 functioning refineries. We can’t have our vitality safety within the arms of 1 individual, that’s what the NMDPRA chief government was attempting to say, but it surely shouldn’t have been a dialogue for the press,” Adigun acknowledged.
He added that the federal government also needs to think about different traders within the midstream, who could also be affected by the sudden stoppage of importation.
The knowledgeable famous that depot house owners have been protected by the Petroleum Trade Act to import gas, saying that proper can’t be taken away from them by a fiat.
Based on Adigun, these importing gas in the intervening time naturally patronise the Dangote refinery when the value is best than going outdoors the nation to import gas.
Opposite to speculations, Adigun maintained that it was not possible that the Dangote refinery would crash the pump value.
He argued that the price of crude, whether or not provided domestically or in naira, could be priced in accordance with the worldwide benchmark.
He disclosed that the touchdown price of petrol is now round N1,100, which has loads to do with the price of manufacturing.
Nevertheless, Adigun mentioned that might solely occur if the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted and Dangote have an settlement to promote at a set value with out recourse to the worldwide benchmark and the fluctuating international alternate charge.
One other vitality trade knowledgeable, Dr Taiwo Ogunleye, mentioned petroleum has remained an vital a part of the world’s vitality combine and the worldwide economic system and a cornerstone of the fashionable vitality system, serving to to drive the worldwide economic system.
He posited that Part 317(8) of the PIA supplies that the NMDPRA ought to apply the backward integration coverage to encourage funding in native refining within the downstream petroleum sector.
Equally, Part 317(9) of the PIA empowers the regulator to assign import licences to firms with lively native refining licences or confirmed monitor data of worldwide crude oil and petroleum merchandise buying and selling for product shortfalls.
These powers, he mentioned, shouldn’t be hijacked from the regulator underneath any guise.
The knowledgeable famous that import quantity allocation needs to be based mostly on standards set by the NMDPRA based mostly on refining output within the previous quarter, share of lively wholesale clients, aggressive pricing, and prudent provide, storage, and distribution monitor data, in accordance with Part 317(10) of the PIA.
“The imported petroleum merchandise should conform to Afri-5 Specification (50 ppm sulfur) as per the ECOWAS declaration on adoption of the Afri-Fuels Roadmap or as prescribed by regulation,” he acknowledged.
Nevertheless, in accordance with the Publicity Secretary of the Crude Oil Refiners Affiliation of Nigeria, Eche Idoko, the federal government should put a cease to importation as early as potential.
Idoko mentioned native refiners may provide the gas wanted for native consumption if the federal government fulfils its promise to provide crude to native refineries within the native forex.