NNPC saved $1b on petrol imports – Kyari

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) saved over $1b of the cost that would have been built in on the top of petroleum products imports into Nigeria.

This was announced by the Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, during a live television programme monitored by NaijaTimes on Wednesday.

The NNPC is Nigeria’s sole importer of petrol for more than three years running and it currently subsidises the commodity, dispensing it to marketers at a subsidised rate, while dealers sell at between N162/litre to N165/litre.

Kyari said NNPC was able to get petrol at the pumps at about N256/litre, whereas the cost of the commodity would have been about N290/litre.

The NNPC boss explained that since the cost of diesel was currently N280/litre, the price of petrol would have been N10 higher than diesel price, but that NNPC had been able to bring it into Nigeria at about N256/litre.

He, however, noted that despite the fact that NNPC was bringing in the commodity at the N256/litre rate, it had maintained the cost to marketers at about N160/litre.

“Today NNPC is the sole importer of petroleum products. We are proudly saying as a company today that we have saved over $1b of cost that would have been built in on the top of importing petroleum products into this country,” Kyari said.

“And this is by the fact that we have a much more transparent import process and a partnership arrangement that is ensuring that value is returned to the shareholders.”

“That means, instead of having a value beyond N280/litre, we are delivering products to the pump today at N256/litre and this means that we are saving over N30/litre because of the transparency that we have put in place,” he added.

 “But what we are selling to the market is about N160/litre and these reasons are very obvious.”

He went on to say that the cost of petrol would remain at the current rate until the ongoing engagements with labour on the matter were concluded.

Explaining why diesel was higher in price than petrol, the NNPC boss said AGO was fully deregulated in the downstream sector, while NNPC was incurring under-recovery on PMS.

Concerning NNPC’s plan to invest in Dangote Refinery, Kyari said the corporation would proceed, adding that it would recover its cost in the refinery in five years.

He, however, noted that he was unsure if Aliko Dangote would be interested in the proposal of the corporation to buy 20 per cent stake in the private facility.

Recall that NaijaTimes reported in May that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was set to acquire a 20% minority equity stake in Africa’s biggest oil refining facility, Dangote Refinery, sited in Lagos.