The Petroleum Product Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has stated that its members lifted Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel), Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), and not Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) from the Port Harcourt Refinery.
The President of the Association, Billy Gillis-Harry, made this known while speaking during an interview on The Morning Show on Arise TV on Tuesday.
According to him, “For the products we are lifting in the NNPC, especially in Port Harcourt refinery, most of them were DPK and AGO. PMS was lifted by NNPC from NNPC trucks to NNPC stations. And of course, we did buy from NNPC stations in our carts.”
He stated further, “We did not buy any commercial PMS from NNPC while the process of doing distributions from that depot was going on. And we made that very clear. There was no time we said we were picking PMS from the depot. We were picking PMS from NNPC through the private depots.”
He noted further that PETROAN members took petroleum products “running into tens of millions of litres and I do have all the allocations that were given to us by NNPC. And till now, we still apply for products, especially DPK and AGO from NNPC.”
PETROAN commends Dangote
Responding to an earlier position taken by energy expert and co-founder of Dairy Hills, Kelvin Emmanuel, during the show, suggesting Dangote Refinery is now doing what the marketers could not do, he said, “We are very proud of Dangote. We want to support him; we want to encourage him to be successful, and we will bring in our little bit to make our giant brother very successful.”
According to him, “PETROAN is one of the greatest supporters of Nigeria’s internal, in-country refining. And we did that with all good intentions as a patriotic organisation to support the government and the industry leaders, especially NNPC, to encourage them to complete the rehabilitation and revamping process. And, we did visit several times.”
Dangote has done what NNPC failed to do – Expert
Emmanuel noted inefficiencies in Nigeria’s public-owned refinery infrastructure, emphasising that the Dangote Refinery is providing critical solutions that both NNPC and private marketers have been unable to deliver.
“Dangote has come to Nigeria to do what NNPC has failed to do for 25 years,” Emmanuel said.
“I have said several times on this show that the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries are not operational. And I’ve been proven right. $1.5 billion was borrowed through crude oil swaps for rehabilitation, even though FEC actually approved $2.9 billion on the 12th of August 2021.”
Emmanuel further took aim at private oil marketers, accusing them of failing to ensure nationwide access to petrol at fair prices. He noted that only Lagos, parts of the South-West, and Abuja benefit from relatively stable PMS pricing.
“If NNPC has failed; if the marketers are not in the business of actually selling and delivering products to Nigerians, because the only places that enjoy the actual price of PMS in Nigeria are Lagos – a few surrounding states in the South-West – and Abuja.
“What Dangote is saying is that he is going to assume transportation costs, he’s going to assume storage costs, and deliver petrol to retail stations because you’ve had marketers frustrate the ability of Nigerians to enjoy the benefits of owning a refinery in Nigeria.”
Backstory
On June 15, Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced plans to begin the nationwide distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and diesel starting August 15, 2025.
As part of the initiative, the company has also deployed 4,000 brand-new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered tankers to support nationwide distribution, with free logistics support will be provided to registered petrol dealers, marketers, manufacturers, telecom firms, aviation operators, and other consumers.
To support nationwide delivery, Dangote Refinery is establishing CNG daughter booster stations, mini distribution hubs backed by over 100 CNG-powered tankers. The move aims to cut logistics costs, expand fuel access, and promote cleaner energy across Nigeria.
