We’re selling petrol at lower rate of N960 by ships, N990 by trucks — Dangote Refinery

Dangote Refinery’s management has dropped the price of petrol, now selling at N960 per liter for deliveries by ship and N990 per liter for those by truck.

Anthony Chiejina, the refinery’s spokesperson, made this announcement on Sunday.

The update comes after some back-and-forth between Dangote and fuel marketers, who argued that imported petrol is cheaper than what the refinery offers. Chiejina responded, explaining that the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery had adjusted its prices to reflect the recent deregulation initiated by the national oil company, NNPC.

Dangote Refinery pointed out that while NNPC has set their rates at N971 for ship-based sales and N990 for truck deliveries, the refinery chose a lower ship rate at N960, though it kept the truck price at N990.

“We had lately refrained from engaging in media fights, but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations.

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.

“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,” the statement read in part.

Adding a bit more context, Chiejina emphasized that Dangote’s pricing matches international standards, suggesting that any cheaper imported fuel might not be up to par.

He noted that this could be happening because the NMDPRA, the regulatory body, currently doesn’t have the labs needed to test the quality of imported petrol.

He didn’t mince words, saying that those pushing substandard fuel don’t really care about people’s vehicles or equipment and certainly aren’t looking out for public welfare. Chiejina also pointed out that it’s normal for governments worldwide to protect their own industries.

“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 that can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.

“We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries,” Dangote added…[READ MORE HERE]>>