Dangote

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery says it has reduced the price of its Premium Motor Spirit from N990 per litre to N970/litre.

LEADING REPORTERS reports that this is the amount marketers would buy the product from the refinery.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, said the reduction was to appreciate Nigerians as the year ends.

“As the year comes to an end, this is our way of appreciating the good people of Nigeria for their unwavering support in making the refinery a dream come true. In addition, this is to thank the government for their support as this will complement the measures put in place to encourage domestic enterprise for our collective well-being,” the statement read.

Chiejina said the refinery would not compromise on the quality of its petroleum products while assuring Nigerians of the best quality products that are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

“We are determined to keep ramping up production to meet and surpass our domestic fuel consumption; thus, dispelling any fear of a shortfall in supply,” the statement concluded.

PUNCH Online recalls that the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria said on Friday that the landing cost of imported petrol is now N971/litre.

Recently, both independent and major marketers confirmed that the pump prices of petrol had started reducing in many parts of the country due to the competition that the deregulation of the downstream sector has caused.

The spokesman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, said the agreement between IPMNAN and the Dangote refinery is gradually pushing down the price of PMS.

“By just the announcement that IPMAN and Dangote have met and are ready to transact business, the prices of products have crashed. You would have noticed the drop in prices by N10, N15, or so, and this is due to competition.

“Independent marketers are no longer buying from middlemen. We are going to be buying directly from the producer. So, the competition is setting in. I also want to tell you that before the end of this year, the price will not be as high as what you see now.

“You can see how our meeting with Dangote has significantly removed about N10 from the prices of refined petroleum products. It is a good development. We have not even started. Remember I once told you that prices would drop once IPMAN started lifting from Dangote,” Ukadike stated.

Dangote Refinery has disclosed the price of its petrol, saying that it sells at N990 per litre in trucks and N960 per litre into ships.

The disclosure follows the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) claim of importing the products at cheaper rates compared to that of Dangote.

The marketers had in an earlier interview claimed that they are buying at cheaper rates abroad while calling on Dangote Refinery to engage stakeholders.

But in its reaction, the refinery said that it is only substandard products that can be imported at cheaper rates than its own products.

In a statement released Sunday night and signed by the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, Dangote Refinery noted that it followed the pricing benchmark by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), adding that it went lower in pricing for selling into ships.

It reads, “Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports.

“If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low-quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles. Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.

Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.

“In good faith, and in the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased.

“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, to use it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.

“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips to protect their domestic industries.

“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum products in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty.”

Nigeria’s petroleum marketers are upbeat they will sell Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) cheaper than that of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited if Dangote Refinery begins direct sale of petrol to them.

The spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike disclosed this in an exclusive interview with daily post on Monday.

Ukadike gave this assurance while giving an update on petroleum marketers’ plans to directly purchase petrol from Dangote Refinery.

This comes days after the Federal Government through the Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Implementation Committee on Naira-for-crude sale to domestic refineries, Wale Edun confirmed that marketers have been cleared to purchase petrol directly from Dangote Refinery.

The development brought to an end the NNPC regime as the sole buyer of Dangote Refinery.

Recall that upon the inaugural distribution of Petrol at Dangote Refinery, NNPC was the sole-offtaker.

However, Edun last Friday, said that part of the implementation of the Naira-for-crude deal with Dangote Refinery was for marketers to lift petrol directly without NNPC as a middleman.

This comes at the back of the latest hike of petrol in NNPCL filling stations to N1,030 per litre in Abuja, while other petrol stations sell at between N1100 and N1,200.

Similarly, NNPCL fixed between N1040 and N1100 as ex-depot prices, that is the rate petrol marketers are expected to buy the product at depots.

Meanwhile, marketers had earlier rejected the ex-depot price by NNPCL.

Nigerian government’s permission to marketers to lift Dangote Petrol became a lifeline outside fuel import.

Reacting, Ukadike on Monday said IPMAN members, who control 70 percent of filling stations nationwide, are awaiting Dangote Refinery to kick off direct petrol sales.