Osamagbe Imadiyi
In Rivers State, oil marketers have listed the requirements that will entice them to use the recently restored Port Harcourt Refinery Company. The dealers said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, which oversees PHRC, is required to offer its refined petroleum products at a lower cost than the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
In response to allegations on Wednesday that its petrol prices were around N1,045 per litre, the NNPCL said that the refinery had not yet disclosed its prices because only NNPCL stations were currently receiving the plant’s output.
Olufemi Soneye, the spokesperson for the oil company, stated that because its purchasing portal was still down, the company was still examining its prices and had not yet started selling in bulk. Meanwhile, it was also gathered on Wednesday that oil marketers imported 105.67 million litres of petrol into the country in five days.
Marketers confirmed that NNPC was selling petrol at N1,045/litre, stressing that they may be compelled to opt for petrol importation as a means of meeting local demands.It was exclusively gathered that a total sum of 78,800 metric tonnes representing 105.67 million litres of petrol was imported into the country in the last five days spanning November 23 and November 28.
Following years of inactivity, the 60,000-capacity Port-Harcourt refinery reopened on Tuesday, receiving early kudos from Nigerians and industry participants.According to the NNPC, the recently renovated Port Harcourt refinery complex, which was updated with contemporary machinery, is currently refining at 70% of its installed capacity.
With a daily capacity of 1.5 million liters for diesel and 2.1 million liters for pour fuel oil, NNPC stated that these two products would be the refinery’s largest outputs. According to reports, roughly 200 trucks of gasoline would be delivered to the Nigerian market every day.
Although the price of the products from the renovated Port Harcourt refinery has not yet been announced by NNPC, a high price would deter marketers, according to Chinedu Ukadike, National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria. The current price of Dangote’s gasoline is N970 per liter, while the price of imported gasoline is comparable.
