Local Refineries’ Owners Task Federal Gov’t On Fair Competition

Chairman of the Crude Oil Refineries Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), Mr Momoh Oyarekhua, has said Nigerian refineries should be protected from unfair competition against importers and international petroleum traders in line with provisions of Section 317 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

He spoke on recent developments in the petroleum industry about pricing, product quality issues and accusations of monopoly against Dangote Refinery on the Channels Television’s ‘Business Morning’ show monitored in Lagos.

Oyarekhua said local refineries were not being fairly treated or encouraged.

He said: “Regarding pricing, Dangote perceived monopoly, quality of products and sundry challenges facing the industry, CORAN thinks that people are not being fair to the local refiners and it is an effort to frustrate local refining in Nigeria.”

He stated that there was  no doubt that there was the possibility of adulterated products being shipped into Nigeria and there was need for the government and regulators to check and discourage importation of petroleum products below specified quality standards, and also stop importation with the view to urgently allow quality locally refined products to thrive.

“We see the importation of low-quality products as an effort to frustrate our local refining in Nigeria. The truth is that if products are being imported into Nigeria to compete against products that are produced by refineries in Nigeria, there won’t be healthy competition.

“Some of the things Dangote has said are quite very true. I mean products have been blended and we are aware.”

On pricing, Oyarekhua alluded that pricing was subject to the FX situation of the country and the constant instability in the market, which is impacting the stability of product pricing adversely.

He stated, “There is the FX element which we are all aware of. Today, FX has been going up and down and it has been very unstable. At the parallel market level, it is about 1,700 something 700 plus, depending on who you are buying from and crude price has been fluctuating. These are the factors that are regulating the price of refined products and we all know what the impacts are

“If you go and benchmark this using Platt and looking at the petrol index in Platt, anybody today who says that he can import any product into Nigeria for less than N900, the person must be questioned because this is an international market, is not anything that is hidden, the calculations are there.”