Oil marketers accuse NNPC of monopoly

Oil marketers have criticised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) dominance in petrol importation, stating that it violates the Petroleum Industry Act.

They stated this at the post-conference press briefing of the 2023 Expo of the Oil Trading Logistics Africa Downstream Energy Week, in Lagos, recently.

The Chairman of Oil Trading Logistics and CEO of 11 Plc, Tunji Oyebanji, said NNPCL, as the only downstream company supplying petrol to the country, was promoting unhealthy competition, which was prohibited by the PIA.

“Prices of petrol are still not reflective of true market dynamics. There should be healthy competition throughout the value chain, and all these have been impossible due to NNPCL monopoly,” he said.

Oyebanji maintained that the reason independent marketers had been unable to import petrol was majorly due to the inability to access forex exchange at a competitive rate as the NNPC.

“Not all oil marketers have access to forex at competitive prices. NNPC has to play by the same rules as other downstream companies. But as of today, NNPC has access to forex because it sells crude oil but we don’t.

“So, you see a situation where NNPCL still dictates the market share others have, because if I for instance, ask for 100 trucks of petrol, and I get 5, then, my market share has been automatically determined by the NNPC. And this is not competition and is unhealthy for the industry,” he maintained.