Concerned about the cost of petrol coming from the Dangote Refinery, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to make sure that the price of petrol is not more than that of petrol imported.
According to IPMAN, a discrepancy of this kind might have detrimental effects on both consumers and marketers, and it would be detrimental to the country’s efforts to become energy self-sufficient.
On Monday, IPMAN stated that the pricing plan for locally refined petrol ought to take into account the benefits of domestic manufacturing, providing Nigerians with a more reasonably priced choice.
The group stressed that a viable petroleum market in the nation and the prosperity of the Dangote Refinery depend on maintaining competitive pricing.
This was said by IPMAN National Welfare Officer John Kekeocha on Monday’s The Morning Brief breakfast show on Channels Television.
“If NNPC can sell Dangote products higher than the imported products then it doesn’t make sense. What is the celebration we are having all these while then?” he queried.
The NNPCL stated that it purchased petrol from the private refinery for N898 per litre when it started loading the first batch from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday.
NNPCL retail stores in Lagos sold petrol for about N855 before removing it from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday. However, they reported that the current price of a litre of Dangote petrol in Lagos is N950, while in Borno it is N1,019 per litre.
Dangote Refinery, however, denied providing NNPCL with petrol at N898. In a statement released late on Sunday, a refinery representative named Anthony Chiejina called the NNPCL’s claim “misleading and mischievous.”
“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature,” Chiejina said.
NNPCL argued that it purchased fuel from Dangote Refinery for N898 per litre and demanded that the refinery disclose the price at which it sold petrol. A breakdown of the prices at which the NNPCL sells Dangote petrol at its filling stations around the nation was also made public.
The largest industrialist in Africa, Dangote, started producing 350,000 barrels per day at his $20 billion plant in Lagos last December.
After being hampered at first by legal disputes over regulations, the refinery plans to reach its maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.
The refinery started supplying the nation’s marketers with diesel, aviation fuel and now petrol.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has energy problems because none of its state-owned refineries are now in use. The state-owned NNPC is the main importer of the necessary goods, and the nation is mostly dependent on imported refined petroleum products.
In the nation, lines for fuel are not uncommon. Due to the long-term, intermittent supply of energy, the cost of gasoline has increased thrice since the elimination of subsidies in May 2023, from approximately N200 per litre to over N1000 per litre. This has made matters worse for the inhabitants who rely on gasoline to power their cars and generators.
