Finance Ministry Pays Oil Marketers 24.7billion

Finance Ministry Pays Oil Marketers 24.7billion

By Chineme Okafor  

The Ministry of Finance has  released list of oil marketers whose subsidy claims had been paid by the federal government. This was disclosed in a newspaper advertorial that it paid N24.7 billion to oil marketers whose claims had successfully gone through the verification processes from the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

The publication indicated that companies such as , Conoil, Folawiyo Energy, Forte Oil, Oando Plc, Acorn Petroleum, Aiteo Energy Resources and Techno Oil, Bulk Strategic Reserve,
Cybernetics International Services, Dee Jones Petroleum and Gas, Oando Plc, Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas, and TSL Logistics claimed the highest in volume of allocation

Also on the recent list are Blacklight Energy, Bovas and Company and Hayden, all of which have significant supply of volumes.

In the Batch U/13 Sovereign Debt Statement (SDS) issued to 10 oil marketers by PPPRA, Aiteo claimed N2,193,200,999.52; Bulk Strategic Reserve-N905,279,509.42; Conoil Plc-N2,086,584,633.88; Cybernetics International Services-N422,086,579.35; Dee Jones Petroleum and Gas-939,424,518.95; Forte Oil- N2,807,874,290.98; Oando Plc-N1,682,448,410.28; Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas-N623,798,739.72; Techno Oil-N1,712,205,580.56 and TSL Logistics-N942,461,809.71.

Batch B/14 SDS which was issued to seven oil marketers had Aiteo with N3,276,185,458.16; Acorn Petroleum-N1,065,524,432.58; Blacklight Energy-N967,425,330.90; Bovas and Company-N964,625,043.28; Conoil-N1,792,724,448.24; Folawiyo Energy-N1,821,473,866.00; and Heyden-N519,631,559.75.

Collectively, they make significant contributions in the volume of petrol imported and supplied in the country, in addition to the quantity imported and refined by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Following the government review of its subsidy administration in the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) which in addition to cutting down the number of marketers that import petrol into the country, now requires strict adherence to PPPRA’s truck-out policy, payments of subsidy claims to marketers by the ministry were now made to go through forensic processes that were aimed at plugging sources of leakages.

The ministry notes that it is part of a transparent management of the subsidy scheme which suffered some integrity trial that lead to a nationwide uproar following government’s attempts at discontinuing with it in January 2011; it consistently adds that legitimate petroleum marketer with import approvals must endeavour to legally earn their pay.

The PPPRA has also steadily cut down the number of marketers it engage in the regime, the agency had in its third quarter import allocation, cut down the numbers to 27 from 40 in the previous quarter.

The third quarter allocation also excluded some top downstream players such as MRS which was listed in the second quarter while Mobil Nigeria Plc and Aiteo were listed as winners with larger import volumes.

But despite the stringent conditions from the government, these indigenous marketers still find it feasible to stay above the waters, thus showing that the scheme can transparently work for the country and legitimate downstream players.