Why NNPC stations are popping up in locations near you

If you have been paying close attention over the past three weeks, you would have noticed that Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited fuel stations are popping up around your locality.

The number of NNPC stations in Nigeria will increase over the next few months. That’s because on October 1st, 2022, the NNPC announced that it had acquired all the retail service stations under Oando Plc.

The Oando retail brand, OVH Energy Marketing, is the owner and operator of all the Oando-branded fuel stations in Nigeria. Now that NNPC has bought them all, the Oando fuel stations in your locality will rebrand as NNPC fuel stations.

Metrics

- Before buying Oando fuel stations, NNPC was operating over 500 fuel stations of its own. Oando, on the other hand, had 380. So, in the next few months, NNPC-branded fuel stations in Nigeria will become more than 800.

- Other assets that NNPC acquired from Oando include eight liquefied petroleum gas plants, three lube blending plants, three aviation depots, 12 warehouses, and one reception jetty with a 240,000 metric tons monthly capacity.

How does this affect you as a Nigerian?

- Across the country, customers have complained about buying petrol at different rates from different locations and fuel stations.

- As NNPC fuel stations will soon increase, it gives more Nigerians the opportunity to buy premium motor spirit (PMS) also known as petrol at the official rate of N189.46 per litre. NNPC fuel stations are known for always selling petrol at official rates.

What you should know

- In the past, petrol marketers have said that the reason why different fuel stations sell petrol at different prices is because of escalating energy costs in bringing refined fuel into Nigeria, due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which started in February 2022.

- Another reason why petrol prices are different in different regions of the country is based on logistics challenges within those regions. For instance, current flooding in Bayelsa state has cut off access to neighbouring states – Delta and Rivers. So, state residents have to buy black market petrol for up to N1000 per litre.