Dangote Refinery has announced its petrol pricing, revealing that it sells at N990 per litre for truck distribution and N960 per litre for shipment.
This disclosure comes in response to claims by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) that they import petrol at prices cheaper than those offered by Dangote.
In previous interviews, these marketer associations asserted that they procure petrol at lower rates internationally and urged Dangote Refinery to engage with industry stakeholders.
However, in a statement issued on Sunday night, Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of Dangote Refinery, refuted these claims, emphasizing that only substandard products could be imported at rates cheaper than those offered by the refinery.
The statement highlighted that the refinery adheres to the pricing benchmark set by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and has even reduced prices for shipment.
“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,” it said.
Chiejina further warned about the risks associated with lower-priced 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 to detect substandard products when imported into the country,” he stated.
He pointed out that following deregulation, the NNPCL set a benchmark by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for shipments and N990 per litre for trucks. Dangote Refinery, according to him, has competitively priced its products, offering shipments at N960 per litre while maintaining N990 per litre for truck sales.
“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,” Chiejina added.
The statement also addressed concerns about competition from international traders. “An international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, intending to blend substandard products to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production. This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria,” Chiejina said.
He noted that countries often protect their domestic industries to foster economic growth and job creation, citing examples from the U.S. and Europe, which have imposed high tariffs on electric vehicles and microchips to shield local industries.
Concluding, Chiejina reaffirmed the refinery’s commitment to providing affordable, high-quality, domestically refined petroleum products and urged the public to disregard misleading information aimed at undermining the facility.
“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,” he said.
