Some petroleum product marketers say they are currently facing difficulty in securing bank loans to finance the lifting of diesel and aviation fuel in larger volumes from the Dangote Refinery due to the new 45 per cent Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) recently introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It was gathered that the challenge from the increased CRR has allegedly hampered the ability of commercial banks to lend up to N15 billion to enable marketers to purchase petroleum products from Dangote Refinery with cargoes.
This, according to industry sources, was contributing to why products from the local refinery had been slow in saturating filling stations across the country. The Executive Director of Operations at Masters Energy Oil & Gas Limited, Felix Eribo, said that the company had been getting offers from Dangote Refinery but that the company had not started lifting products from them in vessels due to the lack of adequate funding. He said the banks are now handicapped to lend huge amounts that would enable marketers to buy large volumes of products with vessels from the Lekki Free Trade Zone-based 650, 000 barrels per day refining facility.
