The Dangote Group management has addressed reports suggesting that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) is facing challenges in lifting products from the refinery, clarifying that no payments have been made to them.
Anthony Chiejina, the spokesperson for Dangote, provided this clarification on Thursday in a statement titled, “IPMAN: Setting the Record Straight.”
This clarification follows claims that IPMAN is encountering difficulties lifting petrol from the Dangote refinery due to an alleged N40 billion payment made to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
Dangote emphasized that no such payment has been received, nor does IPMAN currently have any direct dealings with the company.
“The Dangote Petroleum Refinery wishes to clarify that it has not received any payments from the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to purchase refined petroleum products.
“Although discussions are ongoing with IPMAN, it is misleading to suggest that they (IPMAN Members) are experiencing difficulties loading refined products from our Petroleum Refinery, as we currently have no direct business dealings with them. Consequently, we cannot be held responsible for any payments made to other entities.
“The payment in mention has been made through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and not us. In the same vein, NNPCL has neither approved nor authorised us to release our Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to IPMAN,” Chiejina said.
The refinery can load 2,900 trucks Daily
- Speaking further, Chiejina also addressed the issue of petrol sufficiency at the refinery, stating that it currently has the capacity to load 2,900 trucks per day.
- He noted that the 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery can meet the nation’s petrol demand and is already evacuating products by sea.
- Accordingly, Dangote urged IPMAN and other marketers to engage directly with the refinery and register their members to load Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“We would like to emphasise that we can meet the nation’s demand for all petroleum products, including petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel. At present, we can load 2,900 trucks per day and we have also been evacuating petroleum products by sea.
“We advise IPMAN to register with us and make direct payment as we have more than enough petroleum products to satisfy the needs of their members.
“Furthermore, we believe it is instructive for all stakeholders to refrain from making unfounded statements in the media, as that could undermine the economic re-engineering efforts of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Conducting business through public speculation is counterproductive and unpatriotic,” the statement added.
Backstory
It was earlier reported that the president of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Garima, stated that its members have been unable to load petrol from the Dangote refinery for several days.
- Garima reacted to the comments made by Aliko Dangote, founder of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, suggesting that marketers were bypassing his company to purchase imported petrol.
- On October 29, Dangote mentioned that his refinery currently has over 500 million litres of petrol available for sale.
- The business mogul stated that retailers are not collecting the available products to alleviate petrol queues, which has led to financial losses for the company.
- In response, however, Garima clarified that IPMAN members are not importing petrol, as claimed by Dangote.
The IPMAN president urged the refinery to allow independent petrol marketers to register directly to facilitate product access, rather than requiring them to go through the NNPC.
“If he (Dangote) can sell the product to us directly, we can buy it, as we have to pay before loading. Currently, we have N40 billion with the NNPC, yet we cannot source the product.
“Recently, some of my marketers were sent by NNPC to load at the Dangote refinery, but those marketers waited with their trucks for four days without being able to load.”
Garima added that allowing independent marketers to load directly from the Dangote refinery — as the NNPC does — could help reduce petrol prices.