Bisola David
Oil marketers claim that once local refining is fully operational, the cost of petrol will be reduced by at least N70 a liter.
The Punch reported that this was stated by the National Controller Operations for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi when discussing the advantages of the Federal Government’s investment in working refineries.
Although the contracts for refurbishing refineries had been issued, he said on Wednesday that it would be a great development for repairs to be finished as soon as possible to relieve the strain and major financial burden of imports on the nation.
“The contract was already awarded before the new government took office,” he claimed. “Although IPMAN is unaware of the specifics of the deal if the refineries are operating well, it would reduce the cost of shipping and ship-to-ship transfers.
If the refineries start operating, “not less than N60/N70 per liter will be off.”
Other advantages of operational local refining that he highlighted included a rise in employment, a decrease in insurance costs, and a faster delivery of products.
The cost of insurance would drop, he claimed, and if we continued to import goods, it would take roughly 30 days for ships to arrive in Nigeria, and we would then have to pay for hiring the vessel.
“However, if we refined within the country, the goods would come in just one day. The general public will have greater employment opportunities. It has a lot of advantages.”
According to the Chairman/Chief Executive of 11 Plc and a former chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Tunji Oyebanji, marketers do not favour importing goods above domestic production.
“Nigeria continued to import a significant amount of petrol because there were no operating refineries there.”
Petrol prices have increased dramatically since subsidies were removed on May 29. They went from around N198/N200 per liter to N617 per liter.
Since then, local consumption has decreased by 30% from the 66 million liters per day recorded before subsidy removal.
In response to the agitated social issues caused by the rise in petrol pump prices, IPMAN’s national president, Chinedu Oknokwo, stated during a House of Representatives Public Hearing on Tuesday that Compressed Natural Gas should be quickly adopted as a clean, alternative energy source.
When compared to other prices, he claimed that CNG will help in powering houses, public and official buildings, and private organizations for a very minimal cost.
