Subsidy: Marketers to be issued import licences

By Clara Nwachukwu
LAGOS— Oil marketers will soon be issued with licences to import refined petroleum products.

This followed the proposal of N888 billion for the payment of subsidies in the revised edition of the 2012 national budget.

The move had become imperative, to avert looming acute scarcity, as the country had almost exhausted existing fuel stock, despite 30 days sufficiency claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Although there is no confirmation from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, with regard to when the licences to import fuel products, notably Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, or petrol and household kerosene, HHK will commence, but oil marketers said that it will be very soon.

According to one of the major marketers who spoke to Vanguard in confidence on the telephone  yesterday, “I won’t be surprised if they (PPPRA) invite us to tender tomorrow.”

This according to him is because “scarcity is looming everywhere, and government has realized that the NNPC cannot do the import all alone.”

However, genuine operators are optimistic that government will be less reckless in the manner in which they award the licences in view of the current crisis over N1.74 trillion paid as subsidy in 2011 and still counting, which caused public and mass protests early in the year over the removal of subsidy on petrol.

According to the operator,, “TYhis time around, they won’t just be giving the licences to just anybody. We are hoping that they will really implement the terms for participating in the Petroleum Support Fund, PSF, as spelt out in the law.”

There are at least 11 grounds for eligibility to participate in the PSF, these include:

Oil marketer or Trading company must be a registered company with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, to conduct petroleum business

Must have proof or ownership of valid throughput agreement of storage facility with a minimum of 5,000 metric tonnes for the particular product, in addition to ownership of retail outlets as well as a valid import licence from the Department of Petroleum resources, DPR.

The product loading and arrival time must be within a maximum of 30 days and must meet products specification by the DPR and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON

Deliveries must be made to depot locations approved by the DPR and witnessed by PPPRA operatives, external auditors and the industry consultants, and a host of others.