NNPC is now the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has moved from importing around 90 per cent of the petroleum products consumed in the country to being the sole importer since January this year, Daily Trust reports.

Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the downstream arm of the NNPC Mr. Henry Ikem-Obih disclosed this in an interview with the corporation’s in-house monthly news publication called NNPC News. Few months ago, oil marketers comprising mostly downstream outlets of Total, Forte Oil, MRS, Conoil, Mobil and NIPCO, among others imported around 50 per cent of the petroleum products consumed in the country while NNPC supplied the balance with little contribution from the refineries.

But the marketers were said to have stopped fuel importation due to shortage of foreign exchange and increase in crude prices, which they claimed have made it unprofitable to import petrol and sell at N145 per litre. This has since left NNPC to carry the fuels supply burden of the country. The COO attributed NNPC’s ability to do this to the Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP), a scheme, he said that has enabled the corporation meet those obligations in a very efficient manner and at the right pricing.