Nigeria’s Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), has cautioned oil marketers and operators in the downstream sector against non-compliance with the terms of the Petroleum Products Commercial Framework Regulations.

The PPPRA said that failure of oil marketing companies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to register or renew registration with the Agency will attract a penalty of N500,000 to obtain approval to discharge the cargo and complete the registration processes within a month.

Any company registered and captured in the Agency’s database that wants to supply petroleum products into the domestic market shall apply to the Agency for Quantity Notification (QN). Marketers’ quarterly supply plan is to be submitted to the Agency at least two weeks before the beginning of every quarter for planning purposes.

Importing/supplying products without the Agency’s QN would lead to a suspension for three months and a 1.5-million-naira penalty. Also, submission of a forged vessel and other documents by any operator would lead to suspension from operations for three months and referred to the appropriate government agency for investigation and prosecution. A re-admission fee of 5 million naira would be paid by the offending operator.

The Agency might request for information occasionally from the marketers to determine indicative prices in the downstream sector.

Excerpts from the PPPRA’s regulations:

“Downstream operators (including refiners, marketers, depot owners, wholesalers, retailers, traders, etc.) wishing to carry out the business of petroleum products in Nigeria should submit Expression of Interest together with all relevant documents required for registration with the agency.”

“All applications for registration with the agency shall be subject to due diligence and execution of contract agreement, and registered operators shall be issued a commercial licence to supply petroleum products.”

“The agency’s QN shall be a precondition for the issuance of DPR’s (Department of Petroleum Resources) import permit.”

“Marketers shall pay the agency’s administrative charge on all petroleum products, not later than three days after discharge.”

“The agency shall monitor the prevailing market fundamentals and periodically advise on indicative prices for all refined petroleum products.”

“Failure to comply with the provisions of these regulations shall attract appropriate administrative sanctions.”