Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas, has called for greater stability in Dangote Petroleum Refinery's pricing and operational policies, warning that ongoing fluctuations are placing real strain on downstream marketers.
Speaking to Petroleumprice.ng team on a courtesy visit to his office, Iheanacho said marketers rely on credit lines to fund procurement, but that unpredictable shifts in refinery pricing and policy make it difficult to manage that exposure with confidence.
Iheanacho also renewed calls for depot owners to be given greater independence in sourcing product. He noted that the federal government supported Dangote Refinery's establishment through exchange rates and favorable policies, arguing that support should now translate into more room for depot owners to operate independently. "Even for the gantry, we have the terminals that have kept the industry," he said, noting that depot owners have supported the sector for close to three decades, predating Dangote Refinery's entry into the market, and that they should be allowed greater room to operate independently.
Drawing a historical comparison, Iheanacho pointed to earlier inefficiencies under NNPC, saying volumes supplied were not properly benchmarked against actual consumption. "NNPC was inefficient in terms of the volumes that they brought over time," he said. "They really didn't benchmark it against what was being consumed."
He said the downstream sector risks repeating that pattern of instability if pricing and policy volatility continue unaddressed, and reiterated his call for closer collaboration between regulators, the refinery, and depot owners to build a more predictable operating environment for marketers going forward.
Iheanacho said data remains critical to the sector and commended Petroleumprice.ng's analytical and intelligent reporting on the downstream petroleum industry.