The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria has stated that it did not purchase commercial petrol from the Port Harcourt Refinery, contrary to public perception.
President of PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, said in a television programme on Tuesday that the association only lifted diesel (AGO) and kerosene (DPK) from the refinery during its test distribution phase, not Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
“For the products that we are lifting in NNPC, especially in Port Harcourt Refinery, most of them were DPK and AGO.
“PMS was lifted by NNPC to NNPC trucks to NNPC stations. And of course, we did buy from NNPC stations in our cars,” he said.
“But we did not buy any commercial PMS from NNPC while the process of doing distributions from that depot was going on. And we made that very clear. There was no time we are saying that we are picking PMS from the depot.
“We are picking PMS from NNPC through the private depots that are partnering with them,” he explained.
Gillis-Harry used the opportunity to reject corruption allegations and pricing manipulation claims against PETROAN members.
“Let me clearly state this, and I do not want to be misquoted because I will give my answers with very strong facts.
“PETROAN is one of the greatest supporters of the Nigerian internal in-country refining campaign. And we did that with all good intention as a patriotic organisation to support the government and the industry leaders, especially NNPC, to encourage them to complete that rehabilitation and revamping process,” he said.
He added that PETROAN had repeatedly visited NNPC refineries and recorded those visits for transparency.
“Each time we visited, I have videos. I have videos of our visits, videos of our activities that have never been published. And we can bring those videos out at any time. So we have facts. We were not supporting NNPC’s refinery blindly.
“In my association, we have very senior officers in the private and public sectors that are part of our leadership. We are not engineers, but we do have engineers who understand the process. We ask technically sound questions, and we answer them with evidence,” he added.
Gillis-Harry restated that no commercial petrol was lifted from the Port Harcourt refinery by PETROAN.
“Yes, we did take products running into tens of millions of litres. I have all the allocations given to us by NNPC,” he said.
He further noted, “It takes processes for allocations to be given. While we don’t have that, we go elsewhere to meet our needs. That is a fact.”
On Dangote Refinery, he said, “We are very proud of the Dangote foray into the business. We want to support him. We want to encourage him to be successful. However, I’m asking him also to do other realities. It’s not the Ministry of Transportation that is going to be investing in all of those things. This is where our government should come in.”
Responding to accusations by Kelvin Emmanuel that PETROAN was complicit in high fuel prices, Gillis-Harry said, “That information is absolutely incorrect. I don’t know where Mr Kelvin gets his data from. I’m more than happy to confront his data with facts. There is only one source where we can get facts NNPC or the NMDPRA database, which records all depot transactions. Emotions don’t count here. I’m in the business, I wear the shoes, so I know where it pinches.”
“Any station that bears a PETROAN logo has a retail licence from the NMDPRA. We are very careful. Yes, we cannot say 100%, because even the monkey said it cannot vouch for its child behind. So broad accusations are completely wrong.”
While acknowledging systemic corruption, he said, “Corruption in the country and in the industry is not a lie. I sympathise with us as a country. We must address it. But you see, the critical point is what Dangote Refinery has announced, and PETROAN 100% will support its success.”
Gillis-Harry stressed the important role of smaller distributors, “The success of one giant should also be a celebrated success of the Lilliputians. We are the small boys doing an efficient job in distributing petroleum products. In the riverine areas, fuel costs are high, yes but there are cost implications: finance, logistics, security, and time to deliver.”
He also responded to pricing concerns raised by PENGASSN, saying, “Even in our statements, written and oral, we have always supported Dangote’s ventures. What he has done gives us pride as Africans. So there’s no time what Dangote is doing will not be what PETROAN supports.”
Addressing previous cautionary statements, he clarified, “We said there are suspicions and worries, given the nature of how the system works. People have invested and lived in this industry for over 60 years. So it’s important that everyone is on the same table.”
He said, “Dangote is not a regulator, and cannot be. The country should know that a single company cannot take the place of the regulator. Regulators must do their constitutional duty.”
“Article 207 clearly talks about how pricing should be structured. Are we following the law? The answer may not be yes. I’m anxious to see those rules applied. That’s what will stabilise the price.
“Don’t forget that any product taken from a depot to a retail outlet carries many cost implications. So when it gets to the station, who bears the cost? It’s you, Nigerians. All of us. I pay the same price at stations, regardless of being the president of PETROAN.”
He concluded, “We are very anxious that the pricing being discussed by refiners, depot owners, marketers or retailers should reflect what the PIA provides in section 207. The final station price must reflect cost and margin realistically.”
Gillis-Harry reaffirmed PETROAN’s commitment to transparency and fairness in the distribution and pricing of petroleum products across Nigeria.