The Senior Partner, Commercial and Energy Law Practice, CANDELP, Mr. Isreal Aye said Nigeria would continue to import petroleum products because of the provisions in the nation’s Petroleum Industry Act, PIA.

He said that Section 317(9) of the PIA allows the regulator to grant import licenses to companies with active local refining licenses or a proven track record of international crude oil and petroleum products trading for product shortfalls.

Speaking at the media training in Lagos, Aye said Nigeria may not see an end to the importation of petroleum products anytime soon, adding that the section empowers the regulator to address potential shortages by allowing authorized entities to import fuel.

He said: “The crafters of the law had envisaged a situation whereby refineries in the country may experience a downtime due to maintenance or a mechanical fault that will affect its operations.

“At such time, the regulator will enforce the clause as contained in section 317(9) to bridge the shortfall pending when the refinery comes back on stream.”

He also said: “We cannot stop the importation of fuel now until we have about three to four functioning refineries. We cannot have our energy security in the hands of one person, that’s what the NMDPRA chief executive was trying to say some time ago.”

According to him, those importing fuel at the moment naturally patronise the Dangote refinery when the price is better than going outside the country to import fuel.

However, he cautioned that it was not feasible that the Dangote refinery would continue to crash petroleum products prices without corresponding market factors.

Similarly, in his presentation titled “Understanding Anticompetitive Practices in the Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Industry, energy policy analyst, Taiwo Ogunleye, explained that anti-competitive market practices and behavior in the midstream and downstream petroleum industry are activities performed by companies to undermine fair competition, negatively impacting market efficiency, prices, and consumer choices.

He said such practices may include price fixing, collusion, predatory pricing, market allocation, monopolisation or abuse of dominance, exclusive contracts, unfair restrictions in distribution and retail operations, and refusals to supply or deal, indiscrimination in pricing or limiting infrastructure access to competitors.

The expert argued that the impacts of anticompetitive practices are especially severe in countries with developing regulatory institutions or in transitioning markets.

To address such practices, he said strict regulatory oversight and enforcement, transparent market access rules, and competitive pressure remains essential to minimize these serious consequences.



https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/04/why-nigeria-may-continue-petrol-importation-candelp/