Regulator vows to sanction petrol marketers breaching official prices, shuts down 7 defaulting depots – Newstrends
Connect with us

Business

Regulator vows to sanction petrol marketers breaching official prices, shuts down 7 defaulting depots

Published

on

Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) yesterday vowed to revoke the licences of petrol marketers selling above the controlled prices as well as those hoarding the product in their depots.

Speaking in Abuja, the Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, explained that in the last few days several depots had been shut down for selling above the regulated prices.

He reiterated that as of yesterday, the nation still had at least 30-day sufficiency, explaining however that the global crisis caused by the Russian and Ukrainian war in addition to the fluctuation in the value of the naira had affected the even distribution of petroleum products, particularly from the waterways to the depots through truck-ins to the retail stations.

Ahmed noted that several meetings had been held with petrol marketing companies, independent marketers, transporters, the suppliers-the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) as well as other interested parties to see how the distribution bottlenecks could be addressed.
“Now, the market is not deregulated. So, we are still in a regulated environment as far as petrol is concerned,” Ahmed added.

READ ALSO:

According to him,  President Muhammadu Buhari had approved an additional N10  for transporters to cover the transportation costs as a result of the high costs of diesel which he said is the main source of transporting other products within the country.
He pointed out that one of the constraints within the distribution system had been the increase in the bunkers’ freight rate from between $16,000 to $19,000 per day to about $35,000 to $40,000 per day within Lagos and even more to Calabar.

“We sat down with the marketing companies and agreed to give them some palliatives through the NNPC, as well as through our regulatory control areas. But the market has continued to increase the cost of ex-depot prices.
“It has gone beyond expectation and reason. And Nigerians have been suffering due to that because when you talk to a retail outlet owner, he will say this is how much he bought it from the depot owner. But NNPC Limited is the sole importer. And they sell these products to the marketing companies within acceptable import parity pricing benchmarks.

“So, even with the additional cost of transportation, by trucking or by sea,  the acceleration or the increase in the ex-depot price was completely outrageous,” Ahmed explained.

The NMDPRA’s CEO noted that as a responsible regulator, the organisation was concerned about the yearnings and sufferings of innocent Nigerians who have no voices and had therefore decided to take action, not necessarily to destabilise the market but to strengthen it.
“We had intelligence from other relevant law enforcement agents, in addition to the intelligence information we had within our own system, so we corroborated all the information that we gathered. We had to take action, and the first action we took a couple of days ago was to shut down some of the depots where they have products.

READ ALSO:

“A lot of them have breached that trust or regulatory requirement, but we’ll have to start from somewhere. So we shut down about seven depots in Lagos and other parts. We have shut down Aldova.

“Aldova is under maintenance; so, we shut down where they had their products and they were selling beyond the controlled price and Aldova is a major marketing company. You know, they are getting their products directly from NNPC.
“And they’re also getting it with some level of comfort because it’s not like cash and carry, so they had no reason to increase their price beyond reason. Then, of course, Rainoil in Lagos and all their facilities,” he stated.

In Warri, Oghara, Port Harcourt and Calabar, Ahmed added that some depots had also been closed for breaching the rules.
“The next level is the continuation of what we are doing. We have got to a level where marketers understand their responsibility to the consumers. What do you do next? We can revoke any licence.

“We don’t need to shut their depots. We don’t need to shut down their facility or retail outlet. We just have the mandate as a regulator to withdraw or revoke their licence. And once we revoke your licence, we notify all the relevant stakeholders that deal with you in the business to also know that if you do not have a licence, if they deal with you, they’re also breaching the regulation and they’re breaching the process and that’s exactly what we are going to do because we cannot continue like this. Nigerians have suffered,” he added.

According to him, the board of directors of NMDPRA had met and agreed and had given the go-ahead to shut down any defaulting facilities.
“We have enough products in the country. As of last night, we had about 30 days sufficiency and I will tell you that about 10 days of that sufficiency is on land and there has been even distribution by trucking,” he added.

Thisday

Business

Nigeria’s foreign reserves in marginal increase, now $40.88bn 

Published

on

Nigeria’s foreign reserves in marginal increase, now $40.88bn

 

Nigeria’s foreign reserves rose to $40.88 billion as of November 21, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has said.

Cardoso disclosed this on Tuesday at a press conference after the Monetary Policy Committee’s 298th meeting in Abuja.

He said the external reserves grew from $40.06 billion at the end of October to $40.88 billion in November.

The amount represents an increase of $82 million or 2.05 per cent in 21 days.

“The external reserves rose marginally to 40.88 billion as of 21 November 2024, from 40.06 billion at the end of October 2024, available to finance 17 months of imports,” he said.

However, from the apex bank’s website, the increase in Nigeria’s foreign reserves showed $40.27 billion on November 22.

Cardoso also said, “The process of getting us where we are in terms of reserves has been a long one”.

“It is a clear indication that the policies we have put in place are certainly yielding fruits,” he added.

“However, and it’s very important to make a distinction here and to reiterate the fact that reserves are there for a multiplicity of different purposes, not least of which is to create buffers in the event of unanticipated shocks.

“So they are not there to simply whittle away. They are there to be used to more or less defend yourself where that becomes necessary

“And when we talk about shocks that are not anticipated, I think we can see how the global economies are.”

Cardoso also said the bank would continue to intensify efforts to stabilise the currency and prices.

The CBN governor said, “The currency has been stable compared to what it was in June”.

But he said for the value of the country’s currency to be stable, there must be increased exports and diversification of the economy.

Cardoso said diaspora remittance had increased due to policies put in place.

He commended those in the diaspora for helping the country accomplish over $600 million in remittances.

Continue Reading

Business

Naira rises to N1,755/$ in parallel market

Published

on

Naira rises to N1,755/$ in parallel market

The Naira yesterday appreciated to N1,755 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,770 per dollar on Monday.

Similarly, the Naira appreciated to N1,659.44 per dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market, NAFEM.

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange rate for NAFEM fell to N1,659.44 per dollar from N1,675.62 per dollar on Monday, indicating N16.18 appreciation for the naira. The volume of dollars traded (turnover) increased by 219.5 percent to $425.98 million from $108.79 million traded on Monday.

READ ALSO:

Consequently, the margin between the parallel market and NAFEM rate narrowed to N95.56 per dollar from N117.38 per dollar on Monday.

 

Naira rises to N1,755/$ in parallel market

Continue Reading

Business

PH refinery to blend 1.4-million litre petrol daily – NNPC

Published

on

PH refinery to blend 1.4-million litre petrol daily – NNPC

 

Rehabilitated old Port Harcourt refinery is currently operating at 70 per cent of its installed capacity, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said.

The Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) operates two refineries: the old refinery with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) and a new refinery with an installed capacity of 150,000 bpsd.

The NNPCL in a statement on Tuesday, said it planned to increase the operation to 90 per cent of the refinery’s capacity.

“The Board and Management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) express heartfelt appreciation to Nigerians for their support and excitement over the safe and successful restart of the 60,000 barrels-per-day Old Port Harcourt Refinery,” the statement reads.

“This achievement marks a significant step forward after years of operational challenges and underperformance.

“We are, however, aware of unfounded claims by certain individuals suggesting that the refinery is not producing products. For clarity, the Old Port Harcourt Refinery is currently operating at 70% of its installed capacity, with plans to ramp up to 90%.”

According to NNPC, the refinery has commenced production of daily outputs of straight-run petrol (naphtha), which is blended into 1.4 million litres of petrol.

The national oil company said the refinery has also started producing 900,000 litres of kerosene per day and 1.5 million litres per day of diesel.

The NNPC said 2.1 million litres daily volume of low-pour fuel oil (LPFO) would also be produced at the refinery, adding that additional volumes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will be refined at the plant.

“It is worth noting that the refinery incorporates crack C5, a blending component from our sister company, Indorama Petrochemicals (formerly Eleme Petrochemicals), to produce gasoline that meets required specifications,” NNPC said.

“Blending is a standard practice in refineries globally, as no single unit can produce gasoline that fully complies with any country’s standards without such processes.”

Additionally, the NNPC said it has made substantial progress on the new Port Harcourt refinery, “which will begin operations soon without prior announcements”.

“We urge Nigerians to focus on the remarkable achievements being realized under the able and progressive leadership of President Bola Tinubu and to support efforts aimed at delivering more dividends to the nation,” the energy firm said.

According to the statement, malicious attacks on “clear progress” only undermine the “significant strides made by NNPC Ltd and the country”.

Continue Reading

Trending