Oil Marketers, Regulators Meet To Tackle Industry Challenges

Operators  and regulators in the nation’s oil and gas industry have convened a forum, aimed at forging a united front to address pressing challenges in the petroleum sector.

This is as the minister of state, Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, and marketers allayed fears over the imminent rise in the price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol.

Rising from the inaugural Petroleum Industry Stakeholders Forum (PISF) meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, Lokpobiri said the petrol pump price is now determined by the price of crude oil in the international market, hence fluctuations in its price within the country.

While noting that the downstream sector is now fully deregulated with the government no longer involved in setting prices, the minister also explained that the PISF which is modelled after the Bankers Committee meetings will afford leaders in the oil and gas industry the opportunity of addressing industry issues, amicably.

The minister said the whole essence of the meeting was to bring the entire leadership of the industry, oil industry, together.

He added: “So that we will be able to build consensus around saying things that we think will be better for the industry.”

Lokpobiri pointed out that deregulation ended all malfeasance associated with the petrol subsidy policy.

He said: “The whole essence of deregulation is for price to find its level. Before now you will agree with me that every day you are hearing negative news about petrol subsidies. Today, you journalists have no negative news about petrol subsidies because it is completely regulated, and the price will find its level.

“As oil price goes up, petrol price will go up and as oil price comes down, price will come up. During the Christmas season, I was in Bayelsa, and I tried to go around different filling stations. Some filling stations were selling N1,020, others were selling N999, while others were selling N1,015.

“What we are concerned about, and I’ve always had that discussion with you, with the Authority Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA), is that the government is more interested in quality control.

Government is more interested in availability and what the government is particularly interested in is dispensation of the right quantity.

“If you are buying 10 litres of PMS, let it be that you are not short changed by the retail filling station. That is where we have issues. And once there is competition, people have a choice, and that’s why you don’t see any queues”.

Also speaking, the chairman, Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, (MEMAN), Huub Stockman explained that although petrol pump price is affected by crude oil price, this may not be immediate.

Stockman, who is also the managing director, NNPC Retail, added: “I think that is always a bit of a crystal ball conversation if you know what I mean. Because crude and product prices don’t always directly relate.

“And it’s not always so that when the crude changes, immediately all other products that are derivatives from it change.

“So if I knew, I would probably not be standing here, but I would do something else. But I think normally there is a correlation. But I think it is too early to say when or what impact it would have.”

Meanwhile, national president, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi confirmed that its members have been lifting products directly from Dangote Refinery and also from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).

He said the direct lifting of the product has made it possible for independent marketers to sell at lower prices than the others.

The IPMAN boss said his association has maintained a uniform price of N935 per litre for petrol because of the partnership with Dangote Refinery.

On his part, national president, Petroleum Products Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Billy Harry recommended the meeting held quarterly to ensure policies are unanimously discussed by all the organisations before they are rolled out.

He said, “And we recommend that it should be a quarterly one and emergencies should also be called to ensure that no organisation or department of the government will roll out policies that are not discussed in a way that those who will obey those laws will certainly get answers quickly.”

The chairman, Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Engr. Wole Ogunsanya said the industry has been battling to raise output.

He stressed that the present administration has increased production to the quota of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

He described the forum as the right thing to do as obtainable in the Middle East to sustain production volume.

He said even in the face of crashing prices, the forum would make it possible to ensure the production of sufficient volume to sustain the economy.

Ogunsanya said, “If you go to the Middle East, they have policies where the volume of oil and gas that is produced year in and year out is sustained.

“So we’re supporting the minister to write a policy to ensure that this boom and bust that we’ve had in the Nigerian industry, we’re able to mitigate it. If you look at the price of oil, it started increasing in 2022.

“We were struggling to increase production and thanks to this minister and this administration, for the first time we are producing the level that OPEC has allocated to. Imagine if we started producing that for two years. We were struggling.

“So what other countries are doing in the Middle East is to sustain their production. Whether the oil price is up or down, they make sure they produce enough volume of oil and gas to sustain their economy.”