Despite the commencement of petrol production by two major refineries in Nigeria in the last three months, oil marketers have continued to import and distribute the product nationwide.
Reports on Wednesday revealed that marketers imported 2.3 billion litres of petrol between September 11 and December 5, 2024.
This development many have argued is contrary to a public announcement by some group of marketers who earlier stated their intention to halt petrol imports and focus on domestic supply.
The local refineries are the 650,000 barrel per day capacity Dangote Petroleum Refinery located in Lagos and the 210,000bpd capacity Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State. PHRC currently produces from its old plant with a capacity of 60,000bpd.
Recall that Dangote refinery began selling petrol in September, while the Area 5 facility of the Port Harcourt refinery started operations last Tuesday.