Discounted fuel: PETROAN seeks NNPC partnership to reduce queues

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has asked the Federal Government to approve a partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to expand the distribution of discounted petrol across the country.

The request comes as the NNPC sells petrol at a reported discount of N66 per litre, bringing the price to N1,339 for users who can access its fuel app, according to the company’s spokesperson, Andy Odey.

PETROAN President, Dr Billy Gillis-Harry, said involving the association in the distribution scheme would ease queues at NNPC retail outlets and improve access to discounted petrol nationwide.

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Speaking on a radio programme monitored by the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, Gillis-Harry said PETROAN’s network of more than 9,000 retail outlets could help distribute the product more widely than the NNPC’s 900 stations.

He said the number of NNPC outlets was insufficient to serve Nigeria’s growing population, adding that PETROAN had offered to distribute 30 per cent of the discounted fuel under terms approved by the government.

He said, “We’ve been there pushing that the government should find some economic engineering to be able to reduce the suffering of Nigerians. This is one of them and we embrace it. We even offered that PETROAN’s stations can distribute 30% of that (fuel) within the ambit of what the government approves and that will help in deeper penetration of petroleum products across the country.

“We’ve offered to the government ourselves as the immediate solutions to whatever difficult that would bring because obviously, if there are five stations, 10 stations in a street and it is only one NNPC station that is selling at N66 discount, obviously there would be queues. But if our members are given percentage of the products to be distributed within the same ambit time without us also losing because we’ll pay for the products. We don’t need to lose money because we’re not as rich as government.”

Gillis-Harry said the partnership would need a pricing arrangement that allowed PETROAN members to cover their costs and earn a modest profit while selling petrol at the same price as NNPC outlets.

He said, “So there must be economic maths that would be able to enhance in giving us the value and not just suggesting that the N66 should be taken off in our cost so that what we sell, we regain it. And while the product is sold at that same price that the NNPC is selling across the country, PETROAN members should be able to get that minimal profit to enable us to keep the stocking ensuring that our stations are wet and will be liquid enough to preserve these products.”

He added that expanding distribution through PETROAN’s outlets would help more Nigerians benefit from the discount scheme.

“The records we have is that NNPC stations cannot serve the whole 230 million plus Nigerians. So that is where we come in to be able to provide that deeper penetration and speedy administration of this plan (fuel discount) so that it’s very successful, Nigerians will be able to benefit from it, and the value of what the project intend to do or achieve will be seen immediately,” the PETROAN President added.