An independent petroleum marketer, Emadeb Energy has imported the first batch of 27 million litres of fuel into the country after subsidy removal.
The marketer spent $17 million (around ₦13 billion) to hire the vessel with partnership from five financial institutions which include Polaris, First Bank, Union Bank, Access Bank and Fidelity Bank.
According to The Punch, the vessel, ST Nnene was expected to arrive in Nigeria last week but had difficulties around Lome waters due to adverse weather.
This development brings to an end, years of market monopoly by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) as it had singlehanded imported and set the prices of petrol consumed in-country.
The NNPCL has, however, agreed to cut down its import volume to 30 – 40% maximum in line with the provision of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) regulation. Recall just after the announcement of subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu, the FG confirmed it will grant approval to six companies to begin petroleum importation.
According to Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), more companies have applied for import permits apart from the six marketers announced.
“There are several companies that applied for fuel importation permit. So, you can apply for importation to get access to the port. And by the way, we are open to all those who are interested in importing,” he said.
“We have guidelines which are not very stringent because we are trying to encourage importation.
“There are six companies who said they want to import fuel in July. Of course, all the others may import in December, in November, or anytime but those who expressed interest to bring in fuel in July there were six of them as of this morning.” Ahmed said.
In addition, the NMDPRA also announced that 56 oil marketing businesses have filed for, and have been granted licences to import PMS.
Out of the 56 that applied, 10 projected their imports to arrive in Nigeria by the third quarter of 2023 while three (A.Y. Ashafa, Prudent and Emadeb) have “landed cargo.”