Nigeria needs to increase local refining capacity, says IPMAN

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) says Nigeria needs to increase its local refining capacity to mitigate the impact of the crash in global crude oil price on the nation’s economy.

IPMAN’s President, Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, told our reporter on Thursday in Lagos that the Federal Government should encourage investment in establishing modular refineries in the country.

“It is not all gloom. This will allow many people to see the opportunities on how to come into refining our products locally, and we believe the government can encourage this by giving them incentives.

“When we refine here locally, we can even sell below what we are selling now to Nigerians which will be good for our economy.

“We need more modular refineries so that we can be able to enjoy these our God-given resources,” Okoronkwo said.

He noted that the recent reduction of Ex-Depot Price of Premium Motor Spirit by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from N113.28k per litre to N108.00K per litre was not surprising due to the removal of subsidy.

Okoronkwo said: “The announcement of the new ex-depot price is what you should expect in a deregulated regime.

“There is no more subsidy and it is the market value that determines the price.

“We have started the journey to totally deregulate the market like what is obtainable in AGO (diesel) and we will get there gradually.”

He also explained why some marketers were still selling the PMS at N125 per litre in spite of the reductions made in recent weeks to the product.

Okoronkwo said: “It is not about compliance with the price reduction because some people can even sell below the current price.

“The market is not being regulated again so it depends on the individual marketer to do what will attract customers.

“There is availability of product and customers and they have the right to choose where they want to buy fuel, and these filling station owners know that,” he said