Refiners have pushed back against claims that imported petrol is cheaper than locally refined fuel, insisting that the price gap is largely due to differences in quality rather than efficiency.
The Crude Oil Refiners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) said comparisons made by the World Bank were misleading because they failed to account for variations in fuel grades and production processes. According to the association’s spokesman, Eche Idoko, many imported petroleum products are blended to meet only minimum regulatory standards, making them cheaper but of lower quality than fuels refined locally.
He went on to state that the blending process is relatively cheaper compared to the total refining process, which usually leads to the production of high-quality fuel, hence making the price of locally refined fuels higher.
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Furthermore, Idoko lambasted the World Bank for failing to state the specific details, such as the density, flash point, and pour point, when conducting price comparisons. In essence, without ensuring that there is a uniformity in the grades of the fuel compared, one cannot accurately draw price conclusions.
Apart from the variations in quality, it should also be highlighted that local refineries have several structural disadvantages. For instance, they purchase crude oil at premium rates without any incentives or discounts.
The World Bank had earlier reported that imported petrol was about 12 per cent cheaper than fuel supplied by the Dangote refinery and urged Nigeria to reopen the market to fuel imports to boost competition. However, CORAN maintained that such conclusions overlook critical quality and cost factors, warning that a fair comparison must be based on like-for-like products.
