Dangote Petroleum Refinery is weighing plans to stop selling petrol to licensed importers, including Matrix Energy and NIPCO, as it moves to protect product quality and shield its brand from blame over substandard fuel.
Sources familiar with the matter said the refinery is concerned that imported petrol of uncertain quality could be blended with its locally refined product before reaching filling stations, making it difficult for both consumers and regulators to trace the source of any quality complaints.
“It is difficult to understand why we would invest heavily in producing high-quality petroleum products for Nigerians, only for those products to be mixed with imported products of uncertain quality and the resulting product to be associated with the refinery,” a source close to the refinery said, according to Vanguard.
Another source added that there needed to be a clear separation between what the refinery produces and what third parties import or blend, warning that market quality issues could otherwise be wrongly pinned on Dangote.
The refinery is also said to be uneasy that some marketers continue importing petrol even as local refining capacity grows, arguing that this cuts into the market available to Nigerian refiners. Dangote cited figures showing imported petrol accounted for about 43 per cent of total petrol supply in July.
As a result, sources say the refinery plans to prioritise marketers without import licences going forward, while those still importing under the federal government’s approved regime may be cut off from Dangote supply.
The six companies licensed by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to import petrol are:
- Matrix Energy
- A.A. Rano
- AYM Shafa
- NIPCO
- Pinnacle Oil and Gas
- Bono Energy
Their licences, issued in May, cover a combined 720,000 metric tonnes, with individual allocations ranging from 60,000 to 150,000 tonnes.
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