Owners of petroleum products hauling companies under the aegis of Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) said gaps exist in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that must be fixed before passage by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly had last week passed the much await PIB, which intend to address critical loopholes in the nation’s oil and gas industry.
But NARTO in a press statement sighed by its National President, Yusuf Othman said the bill promotes monopoly against level playing field in the downstream section of the oil and gas sector.
The group also demand inclusion in the board of the regulatory commission, expected to be created through the bill.
Although the bill abolished price fixing for petroleum product, an indication for full deregulation, it makes it illegal for most marketers to import petroleum products, including already deregulated products, especially PMS, diesel, aviation fuel, lubricants and base oil unless they have licence for a refinery.
The Senate version of bill reads in part: “The Authority shall apply the Backward Integration Policy in the downstream petroleum sector to encourage investment in local refining. To support this, licence to import any product shortfalls shall be assigned only to companies with active local refining licences. Import volume to be allocated between participants based on their respective production in the preceding quarter. Such import to be done under NNPC Limited Direct Sale/Direct Purchase (DSDP) scheme. To safeguard the health of Nigerians, imported petroleum products shall conform to the Afri-5 specification (50ppm sulphur) as per the ECOWAS declaration of February, 2020 on adoption of the Afri-Fuels Roadmap.”
