Dangote Refinery built to sell expensive fuel to Nigerians – Marketers

Nigerians’ hope of getting cheaper Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) has been dashed as petroleum marketers said the $20 billion-worth Dangote refinery was not built to sell less expensive petrol, with the company’s recent price template announcement.

The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, President, Billy Gillis-Harry, and the National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST on Tuesday.

The petroleum marketers were reacting to the Dangote Petrol price template announced on Sunday.

Dangote Group spokesperson, Anthony Chiejina announced on Sunday that the price of Dangote Petrol stood at N960 and N990 per litre for ships and trucks, respectively.

Dangote Petrol price announcement came months after the kickoff of fuel distribution on September 15, 2024.

This is also as Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria disclosed that the landing cost of imported petrol as of October 31, 2024, was N978/litre.

Reacting, Gillis-Harry said the ex-depot price differentials between Dangote Petrol at N990 per litre and that of Nigerian National Petroleum Company, which stood at N1025 per litre, were not significant to discourage importation.

According to him, Dangote Refinery’s gasoline would have been cheaper compared to imported ones if the company meant well for Nigerians.

“Between N990 of Dangote Refinery price and NNPCL’s price of N1025 per litre, the difference is N35. Dangote Petrol price would have been cheaper if the company meant well for Nigerians.

“As it is now, we cannot tell how much Dangote Petrol will sell when it finally lands across states with his current price template of N990 per litre (to trucks),” he told DAILY POST.

On his part, Maigandi said the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has been wrongly briefed about the activities of petroleum marketers.

He further stressed the need for Dangote to sell its petrol directly to IPMAN members.

According to him, the primary aim of IPMAN is to get petrol directly from Dangote Refinery to reduce the end-user price of the product at their retail outlets nationwide.

“Maybe Dangote is not being properly briefed about IPMAN. In the oil industry, anyone who says he wants to fight with IPMAN will not succeed because we have 85 percent of filling stations in Nigeria.

“We cannot question the Dangote price because we are in a deregulation regime. What we are advocating is to buy petrol directly from Dangote refinery so we can sell at a cheaper rate than what we currently sell to Nigerians,” he said.

The development comes as Nigerians lament the high price of fuel and its ripple impact on the prices of goods and services nationwide.

On Monday, protesters stormed NNPCL headquarters in Abuja, demanding the sack of the state-owned oil firm’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari.

While NNPCL retail outlets sell PMS between N1025 and N1060, other filling stations sell between N1,115 and N1,300 nationwide.

Last week Friday, IPMAN hinted at plans to source cheaper petrol for Nigerians amid higher ex-depot prices of Dangote Petrol.

Meanwhile, worried about the surge in imports despite domestic petrol production, Dangote had dragged NNPCL and other marketers to court to annul their import licences.

However, in an update, Dangote announced that the case had been overtaken by events.

Recall that upon the lifting of Dangote Petrol on September 16, 2024, NNPCL hiked fuel prices.

There have been several petrol price hikes since then, which took fuel to between N1,025 and N1,300 per litre.