Import licence: Oil marketers ask court to dismiss Dangote refinery’s suit

Three oil marketers have prayed the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to dismiss a suit filed by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals over the issuance of licenses for the importation of petroleum in the country.

The oil marketers, in a joint counter affidavit filed in response to Dangote refinery’s originating summons, told presiding judge Justice Inyang Ekwo that granting the application would spell doom for the country’s oil sector.

According to them, the plan to monopolise the oil sector is a recipe for disaster in the country.

The three oil marketers –  AYM Shafa Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited – in their response, said the plaintiff did not produce adequate petrol for the daily consumption of Nigerians.

They also argued that there was nothing placed before the court to prove the contrary.

Dangote refinery had sued the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) as first and second defendants.

Also listed as third to seventh defendants respectively in the originating summons dated September 6 are AYM Shafa Limited, A. A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited.

The company had prayed the court to declare that NMDPRA was in violation of Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by issuing licenses for the importation of petrol.

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It stated that such licenses should only be issued in circumstances where there is a petroleum product shortfall.

It also urged the court to declare that NMDPRA is in violation of its statutory responsibilities under the PIA for not encouraging local refineries such as the company.

But the oil marketers, in their response filed on Tuesday, November 5, told the court that they are well qualified and entitled to be issued an import licence by the NMDPRA to import petrol in Nigeria within the meaning of Section 317(9) of the PIA.

They argued that vesting the Dangote refinery with the power of monopoly in Nigeria’s petroleum industry, as it sought vide the instant suit, would kill the competitive pricing of petroleum products in the country.

The oil marketers said such an act would further deteriorate the country’s “critically ailing economy and unleash untold hardship on Nigerians, all of which constitute a recipe for disaster in the polity.”

They said if Nigeria puts all her energy eggs in one basket by stopping the importation of petrol and allowing the plaintiff to be the sole producer and supplier of fuel in Nigeria, with liberty to determine the prices at which it supplies the products, the prices of petrol would continue to rise and energy security will elude Nigeria.

The marketers stated: “That in the event of any breakdown in or obstruction to the production chain of the plaintiff which stops it from producing Nigeria will be thrown into energy crises because it does not have the reserves that would last it for at least 30 days that it would need to order, pay for, freight and import refined products into tanks in Nigeria.

“That amidst the glaring absence of any credible and demonstrable proof that the plaintiff refines and supplies adequate petroleum products for the daily use/consumption of Nigerians, is a recipe for disaster in Nigeria’s energy sector.”

Justice Ekwo has fixed January 20, 2025, for the report of settlement or service.

The Star