Marketers Anticipate Fuel Price Reduction As Port Harcourt Refinery Sets To Start Production

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria anticipate a slight decrease in the retail cost of petrol, generated from the Port Harcourt Refining Company when the facility commences operations.

IPMAN and MEMAN have expressed their willingness to take on products from the facility. They are encouraging the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to keep their commitment of distributing refined products from the plant within two weeks.

Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of NNPCL, shared that operations at the Port Harcourt refinery are scheduled to begin in approximately two weeks.

“We did a mechanical completion of the (Port Harcourt) refinery, that was what we said in December. We now have crude oil already stocked in the refinery. We are doing regulatory compliance tests that must happen in every refinery before you start it, and I assure you that this Port Harcourt refinery will start in the next two weeks.

“Completing the mechanical work means that you are done with the rehabilitation work, now you have to test to see how it works. Of course, we have also completed the mechanical work on the Warri refinery.

“It is also undergoing regulatory compliance; processes that we are doing with our regulator, and this will soon be completed and it will be ready. The Kaduna refinery will be ready by December. We have not reached that stage in Kaduna, but we promise Kaduna will be delivered by December,” Kyari said

In response to this matter on Monday, Abubakar Maigandi, the National President of IPMAN, said that marketers had been notified of the situation and were prepared to begin distributing products.

He further mentioned that once the plant begins producing goods, there may be a slight decrease in petrol prices, emphasizing that the reduction would be minimal.

“As independent petroleum marketers, immediately we received the information, we told all our members to start preparing for loading, especially those in the South-South region of the country, because it is closer to them.

“So at any time they (NNPCL) say we should come and start loading, we are ready. We are just waiting for them to start,”

“Price reduction is obvious when they start releasing products, and there will be availability because it would serve as support to the imported products. So we are expecting a change in price, for no matter how small the reduction is, it is still a reduction.

“Also, the commencement of operations there will create more employment for Nigerians. So it is a welcome development and IPMAN is happy about this, especially if products start coming out from the plant in the next two weeks as promised by NNPCL.”