Concerns are growing among Nigerians as conflicting information continues to surface regarding the fuel pricing strategy of the Dangote Refinery, which has been touted as a potential game-changer for the nation’s energy sector.
The refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is expected to ease Nigeria’s reliance on imported fuel, but mixed signals about its pricing have left consumers and industry stakeholders anxious.
In recent weeks, there has been much speculation about the price at which the refinery will sell its refined fuel products. While some reports have suggested that the refinery could offer fuel at a significantly reduced cost to help lower pump prices nationwide, other signals indicate that the pricing may be more closely aligned with international market rates, which would not necessarily translate into immediate relief for the average Nigerian.
There was another round of public outcry about two weeks ago when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) announced a fresh hike in price of fuel from 617 per litre to 897 naira but the commodity is sold at above N1000 in some other filling stations across the country.
However, some Nigerians were hopeful the price could go down significantly when Dangote petrol is being dispensed but a report filed by Sunday PUNCH monitored by our correspondent suggested that the Dangote refinery would sell its petrol at N766 to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC).
However, another report by Vanguard suggested that the NNPC will offtake the product at N960/N980 per litre and sell to marketers at N840/N850.
According to PUNCH, multiple sources from the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, NNPC, and major energy marketers confirmed that the deal to supply crude to the Dangote refinery in naira was a key factor that led to the PMS price.
“What we are going to see based on the deal between NNPC and Dangote is similar to the DSDP (Direct Sale of crude oil and Direct Purchase of petroleum products) transactions that used to exist between NNPC and foreign refineries in the past.
“And this has really impacted positively on the price of petrol that Dangote is selling to NNPC, because the cost is around N766/litre. But I can’t tell how much NNPC is going to sell to marketers now,” a major marketer, who spoke to Sunday PUNCH in confidence due to lack of authorization to comment on the matter, stated.
Another senior aide to President Bola Tinubu, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the petrol would be sold at 766/litre.
Meanwhile, Vanguard added that the new arrangement from the NNPCL and Dangote Refinery negotiations, spanning more than one week, would allow Nigerians to get petrol at between N857 and N865 per litre and represents an average under-recovery of about N130 to NNPCL.
Reacting to the Dangote fuel pricing, a senior official of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) stated that if marketers could purchase the product at N766 per litre, they would still need to factor in the costs of transportation, levies, and other margins before determining the final pump price.
He said, “Give and take, we can sell at N790 in Lagos. In the far north, it may be N820 per litre because of the distance.”
Gillis-Harry, however, said his group was not aware of the price of fuel from the Dangote refinery.
“Well, it will be acceptable because now we are paying NNPC N870 for a litre, so if we see it at N766, it is cheaper and we will prefer to buy that.
