By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of NIgeria, PETROAN, on Monday insisted that the price of premium motor spirit, also known as petrol, it intends to import will be cheaper than the current rate sold in the country.
The group in a statement by its National Public Relations Officer, Dr. Joseph Obele said competition must be allowed in a deregulated environment.
Obele disclosed that the group has incorporated a business unit that would enable it bring in petrol before December.
It disputed the allegation by Dangote Refinery that the marketers intend to import substandard products at cheaper rate, saying the claims were not surprising.
PETROAN disclosed that it was not aware of the cost petrol from Dangote Refinery until the refinery released a press statement yesterday.
“Intensive or aggressive competition in any market brings the best value for money exchange for a commodity. Consumers get the best value for pricing when competition is at it’s peak, hence competition should be encouraged.
“Contrarily to competition, such a market will be exploitative and strictly for profiteering.
“The publication by Dangote refinery that PETROAN will import sub standard petroleum product is not coming as a surprise to stakeholders, because such is his usual gimmick for maintaining monopoly”, Obele stated.
He continued: “It is important to set the records straight that PETROAN has never compared the price of Dangote PMS with any other on the fact that Dangote’s PMS price wasn’t known until this morning at the press release by Dangote Refinery.
“PETROAN has concluded plans with her foreign refinery counterparts and financial partners to import the best quality of PMS and then sell far lesser than the present selling rate of PMS in Nigeria.
“We planned to enter the market before December 2024, pending the approval of our import permit license by the regulatory agency and access to foreign exchange from CBN at the the official rate”, he added.
PETROAN called for the speedy completion of the ongoing rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, adding that when completed both refineries should be handed over to companies with technical capacity to manage them.
“We will still maintain our position by counselling that the Port Harcourt and Warri Refinery plant after rehabilitation should immediately be privatised and handed over to a reputable firm that has the technical capability, managerial skills and financial strength in partnership with PETROAN and other critical stakeholders.
“This will enable the operators of the government owned refineries to withstand aggressive ballistic competition that will be posed by the known beneficiaries of monopolistic market. Antecedents of the beneficiaries of monopolistic market has showed numerous suffocating business owners crashing out of other sectors for a sole operator in the past.
“Stakeholders concern is a prayer that the process of the privatisation should be transparent using the Indorama Petrochemicals as a model as against Maintenance Repairs and Operations (MRO) contract”, he stated.
