Oil marketers speak on alleged subsidy, NNPC $3 billion loan as Dangote reveals refinery's new take-off date

Following the directive by President Bola Tinubu to halt further increase in petrol prices, speculations are rife that the federal government may have secretly reintroduced subsidy.

Media reports quoting presidency sources had alleged that the government was working on a temporary subsidy to cushion the pains of increasing petrol prices.

According to the report, the president had ordered that oil marketers be paid some subsidy to stop them from increasing petrol prices again.

But, in a telephone chat with Legit.ng, the Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, debunked the assertion that there is a temporary reintroduction of petrol subsidy.

While speaking that the market remains deregulated, Okoronkwo said that the $3 billion loan obtained by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) from AfreximBank would go a long way to help marketers.

Okoronkwo said the market is primarily determined by foreign exchange when asked if the loan would be disbursed to marketers.

He said marketers have yet to start importation, saying that the market is open and that some have begun to bring in products.

Okoronkwo said: “The loan by NNPC will go a long way, but we have not started importing, and the market remains open.”

Meanwhile, the Dangote Refinery said that production would commence operations soon. In a telephone conversation, the spokesman for the refinery, Tony Chiejine, told Legit.ng that the refinery would commence operation sooner than expected.

While failing to provide a date for the commencement of production, Chiejine said the refinery is putting the finishing touches to ensure production commences without hitches. “We will soon begin production.

It is like someone who built a new house. He needs to make sure everything is in order,” Chiejine said.

The Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had, during the commissioning of the 650,000-capacity refinery, promised that it would begin production in late July or early August.