Petroleum marketers insist they provide 68% of national supply, reject dangote capacity claims

Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) has denied the statement by Dangote Refinery that he has the capacity to independently maintain the supply of Nigerian fuel despite sustainable strikes by drivers of petroleum tankers.

A spokesman for the refinery, Anthony Chiejina, said on Tuesday that “there was no lack of fuel” and that the operation was still not affected by the strikes stated by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (Nupeng).

His comments followed the increase in public anxiety over the possibility of national gasoline scarcity as a result of industrial action.

However, Dappman Executive Secretary, Femi Adewole, spoke at Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, stating that the owner of the independent depot and marketers remains the main supplier of petroleum products throughout the country.

“We, the owner of the depot, still supply around 68 percent of petroleum products to Nigeria,” Adewole said. “In May, around 1.7 billion liters of gasoline were distributed nationally, where dangote refineries contributed only around 24 percent. In June, the total supply was around 1.4 billion liters, with dangote donating only 20 percent.”

He argued that regardless of the refinery capacity, the depot owner was forced to continue to import the product because Dangote had not yet provided a consistent allocation for a local depot.

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“At present, Dangote may have stock, but if he does not sell to the owner of the depot, we must import to keep our business alive,” Adewole explained. “We prefer the source locally, but the requirements must be fair. Dangote is sold to international traders in ₦ 65 per liter less than us, and to the gantry, he sells ₦ 45 lower. How do we remain in business in such conditions?”

While emphasizing that the depot operator is willing to buy from a refinery under a fair setting, Adewole calls on a transparent framework that will allow Dappman members to directly access dangote products.

Overcoming ongoing labor disputes, Adewole associating the Nupeng strike with the previous dangote refinery rejection to enable the union activities among the tanker drivers.

“The international labor organization and the Nigerian constitution allowed workers to unite freely. Unfortunately, refinery management initially rejected this, despite repeated offers from trade unions,” he said. “Although management has now approved trade unions, a broader problem in the downstream sector has not yet been resolved.”

Nupeng began his strike on Monday, accused that dangote drivers were recruited on the condition that they did not join the union, the accusation was rejected by the refinery.