A destroyed refinery By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) says it has destroyed 134 illegal refineries in the last few weeks. Also, the company said 63 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered during the the weeks . The corporation, In a visual report, stated that at about 2 am on Sunday, a joint team of security agents discovered a large wooden boat illicitly loading stolen crude oil from Barge AGS01 within the OML 18 operating area, noted intelligence report a large wooden wooden boat was caught receiving crude oil from the barge. According to the state-owned oil firm, while the barge was towed away with a tugboat in custody, five speedboats used in towing the large wooden boat to the illegal loading site were also detained and the particulars of the tugboats and barge used for the operation were reportedly seized for further investigation. It further said that two large boats, which involve
By Favour & Akinola Ajibade
The recent price review of premium motoring spirit from a little over N500 per litre to N617 per litre was carried out by by the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission Limited ( NNPCL) in order restore confidence in the system, Operators has said.
According to the operators, who spoke separately on the issue, there was a still a subsidy of N100 even when the Federal Government removed subsidy in May this year, adding the need to cancel it and further bring back the confidence in the industry made government to jerk up the price to N617 per litre days ago.
Expectedly, there are price differentials, as marketers sell the product between N617 and N700 per litre, in order to cover the cost of transportating fuel from the depots to their stations.
Speaking on the development, the Managing Director, of 11 Plc, Mr Tunji Oyebanji said that an upward review of the price of petrol at the filling stations by NNPC was done to allay the fears of marketers.
“Yes, this should allay the fears of marketers and encourage them to import, as long as the government does not reserve themselves.”
He said that the issue is not unexpected, considering the fact that Naira has suffered depreciation in the market, stressing that the only alternative is to back to the subsidy.
Some operators, however, blamed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for not educating Nigerians that the price of a litre of petrol will not be stagnant, as it will be fluctuating up and down depending on the prices of crude oil and exchange rate dynamics. They stated that by educating Nigerians on the issue they would not be surprised if the price of the product goes up or come down when the need arises in the future.
They believe that if that has been the situation the current hues and cries would not be as loud as it is now.
The price of fuel was updated nationwide at stations operated by state-owned NNPC on Tuesday following a meeting that was held with oil marketers in the previous day (Monday) by the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA).
That saw a rise from N557 naira per liter to N617 naira, or just over $0.78.
Three among the 10 oil marketers that indicated that they are able to import Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the third quarter of this year, which is July, August and September have started bringing in the product to the country.
A total of 56 companies applied to get license to import Premium Motor Spirit or Petrol.
The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDRA) has enjoined others to double their efforts at bringing in more petrol so as to make the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) less dominant in the supply of product to the country.
In his views, the Chief Executive Officer, NMDRA, Farouk Ahmed, noted that the meeting held on Monday was call to encourage marketers to bring in more PMS or petrol and to know if there is anywhere the Authority or government can intervene or assist them.
“If you recall, you will remember that Mr. President at his inauguration speech, said subsidy is gone, and we encouraged all the marketing companies who are interested to come forward for license to import. So this meeting I call to thank some of them that actually took that offer”
“The three companies that have landed cargoes already are Prudent Energy, AYM Shafa and Emadeb, while others have indicated interest to import in August and September, so the meeting was just to encourage them to import so that can displace NNPC dominance in the market.”
“Because the market is open for us to compete and we want to encourage all the marketing companies to come and conduct their normal business in this arena.”
He said that the marketers have choices of where they go to import the product, but if the NNPC alone goes to import it means it has an advantage over them and the Authority does not want any dominant player in the market.
“But it would be nice to give them words of encouragement, ask them if there is any area they need support from the regulator or the government so that they can encourage them to participate.
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