For the first time since subsidy removal and subsequent deregulation of petrol marketing in Nigeria in May 2023, Emadeb Energy Services Limited has imported about 27 million litres of petrol into the country, thus becoming the first private oil marketing firm to achieve the feat under the new regime.
The company said the 27 million litres of petrol came into the country in a cargo valued at over $17 million with huge foreign exchange components.
This was sequel to the granting of petrol import licences to 56 private marketers by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) in its bid to break the monopoly of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) in compliance with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Before now, NNPC had been the sole importer of petrol into the country owing to the withdrawal of private marketers from petrol importation due to the subsidy and regulated pricing regime as well as the foreign exchange challenge facing them.
Speaking on Wednesday, in Lagos, at the inaugural importation of petrol into the country by Emadeb Energy, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Adebowale Olujimi, said his company was able to achieve the feat to prove its capacity and readiness to actively play its part in ensuring steady product supply into the country.
Olujimi, acknowledged that despite the removal of petrol subsidy, local refining remained the best option for the country to guarantee energy security considering the huge foreign exchange implication of the imported products.
He explained that the need to strategically position the firm to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the new marketing regime prompted their decision to become one of the early comers into importing the product.
“The value of this cargo here, you cannot find it in the market just like that. It is over $17 million and you can’t in any way, with what the FX is today. Today, we have imported 27 million litres of PMS, but local refining is the way-forward for us in this country.
“We want to be one of the early comers into this game. In conjunction with some of our trading partners, we decided to source for the licences and that is what has brought us here today.
“NNPC has been the dominant market supplier and we feel that we should do it in another way where we can actually run our business without depending on NNPC or any other parties,” Olujimi said.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the bold step of eliminating petrol subsidy and entrenching a free market regime in the downstream sector.
Allaying the fears of the public that some marketers might take undue advantage of the deregulated market, he said Emadeb being a responsible oil marketing firm understands the importance petrol for the economy.
He stated, “For us and I can talk about so many of our members, we are not profiteers, we are business people. So, we will not sit and let Nigerians suffer.
“So, we called on the government to help in finding a window where these issues of dollars are resolved and we can now have a fixed market rate to bring this product and access this without any condition just for the PMS. It will go a long way to ease the suffering of Nigerians.”
In his remark at the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, said the implication of the 27 million litre of petrol imported by Emadeb showed that deregulation had been embraced by the country.
Represented by the Executive Secretary, Corporate Services and Administration, NMDPRA, Mr. Sadiq Bashir, Ahmed stated that Emadeb had shown that deregulation was doable and a business model that could be successfully implemented in the country.
“The significance of this is the fact that deregulation has been embraced and subsidy removal is a thing of the past. Not only that, it showed that working together as stakeholders in the industry we can actually diversify supply of this very important source of energy for the country.
“Actually, the regulation is not just about pricing, it is about opening up the market, and what we are doing in NMDPRA is ensuring that we guarantee supply by licensing people to import the product where necessary or in the case of licensing refining companies in the downstream to make sure this product is produced in the country,” the agency’s chief executive said.
He restated the agency’s continued commitment to ensure that people get the right quality and quantity delivered to them in the new regime for value of their money, adding they have good teamwork with the industry stakeholders to ensure that.
In reaction to the latest increase in petrol prices in the country, Ahmed explained that prices were bound to go up and down especially as petrol prices were dependent on the international price.
“We also have to understand that PMS price is denominated in dollars and our exchange rate has a direct impact on how much is landed on our shores,” added.
Peter Uzoho and Oluchi Chibuzor
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