Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN) and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) have said that competition will be necessary in the supply of petroleum products in Nigeria. The MEMAN Chief Executive and Executive Secretary, Mr. Clement Isong, and IPMAN, Debo Ahmed, spoke in separate interviews with New Telegraph over the weekend. Ahmed said reliance on Dangote Refinery would breed a monopoly, adding that such was not healthy.
He said: “Dangote has not been the sole supplier of petroleum products. There are other suppliers. If you rely much on Dangote, then, that is going to be a monopolistic situation. So it will not augur well for us. But as far as I know, other suppliers are there. It is not only Dangote. “We have about 15 more refineries. Some of them are functioning but they do not have crude oil. That is the major problem. Let them produce more crude oil for all the refineries and they will start working.
A lot of them are short of crude oil. Even Dangote is not getting crude oil. He buys it from outside the country.” Also, Isong said competition could force down prices and that is in tandem with the free market. He called for repairs of refineries owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPC Ltd), and operation of BUA refinery and modular refineries so as to engender healthy competition.
Isong said: “There is a need for competition. We need Dangote refinery, NNPC refineries, BUA refinery and other modular refineries to work. We want as many refineries working and as efficiently as possible so that we can have access to a competitive market. “If there is no competition, then the prices will be high. We need competition. We want NNPC Ltd refineries to be as efficient as possible so that there will be stiff competition between all the refineries including that of Dangote.
“We need competition. The era that we are entering in the world is such that energy counts. Whether electric energy or other energies, we need competition to keep the prices down as much as possible. “Like all Nigerians, distributors of petroleum products are happy to have local refining. It makes their lives easier. We wish there are many refineries which will make for competition. I think it is pretty common that if we have a single supplier or a dominant supplier, it creates several challenges which is why the market distributors have always kicked against NNPC Ltd being the sole supplier. The sole supplier determines the market share.