The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the demand for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) has dropped by over 35 per cent since the removal of subsidy.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, the daily PMS truck out has reduced significantly to about 47 million litres per day from 66 million litres per day in May.
At a meeting with Petroleum Products Marketers in Lagos, Ahmed said since the announcement of subsidy removal by President Ahmed Tinubu on May 29 this year, the Authority encouraged all the marketing companies interested in importing PMS to get license to import petroleum products, saying about 56 oil marketing companies had so far obtained license to import PMS but only 10 out of the 56 had shown commitment.
“Out of those 10, three of them have already landed cargoes and they are Prudent Energy, AY Ashafa and Emadeb, but 11plc and others are also indicating interest to import in August and September.
“So, this is just to encourage them to import so that they can compete with NNPC in the market because the market is open for all to compete and we want to encourage all the marketing companies to come in and continue their normal businesses in this sector,” he urged.
He noted that the new development would allow end users to choose where to buy their petroleum products since it is a free and open market.
“They have a choice where they go to because if NNPC being the sole importer continues to import then that would mean they have an advantage, but we don’t want any dominant player in the market. So, we thought it will be nice to give them words of encouragement and ask them if there is any area that they need support from the regulator or the government so that we can encourage them to participate in importation”, he added.
He said going forward, the Authority would continue to monitor oversight of the industry as well as increase its partnership with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) to protect consumers’ interest from undue advance from oil marketers.
“But most importantly, is the quality of products coming in so that it does not affect motorist or individuals in terms of damage to equipment, we have upgraded our HSE directorate so we can have very good laboratories where we do all these things in collaboration with other stakeholders by using in use their labs to test for quality. So our focus is to liberate the market which has been liberated and we want the market to remain fluid,” he stated.
