Dangote cries out as NNPC fixes refinery’s petrol price at over N1000/litre
Dangote refinery owned by Africa’s foremost businessman, Aliko Dangote has described the new pricing of petrol by the NNPC as malicious and mischievous as NNPC announced price of the refinery’s petrol.
A spokesman for the refinery Anthony Chiejina in a statement late Sunday described the claim by the NNPCL as “misleading and mischievous”.
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He said, “Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL.
“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.
“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.”
The NNPCL began loading the first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday.
Last December, Dangote, Africa’s leading industrialist, commenced operations at his $20bn facility sited in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day.
The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.
The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational. The country is heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPC being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol tripled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023, from around ₦200/litre to about ₦1000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
But in another vein, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has said that it will sell the petrol lifted from the Dangote Refinery at a price above N1,000 per litre in the north.
The NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, disclosed this early on Monday, in a statement titled, ‘NNPC Ltd Releases Estimated Pump Prices of PMS from Dangote Refinery Based on September 2024 Pricing’ made available to newsmen.
Soneye explained that the price may go for as high as N1,019/litre in places like Borno State, and N999.22 in Abuja, Sokoto, Kano, and others.
In Oyo, Rivers and other areas in the South, it will be N960 per litre.
The lowest price, according to an infographic released by the NNPC, is N950 in Lagos and its environs.
“The NNPC Ltd has released estimated prices of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol (obtained from the Dangote Refinery) in its retail stations across the country.
“The NNPC Ltd also wishes to state that, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, PMS prices are not set by the government, but negotiated directly between parties at an arm’s length,” he stated.
The company explained that the product it loaded on Sunday was paid for in dollars.
“The NNPC Ltd can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as naira transactions will only commence on October 1, 2024.
“The NNPC Ltd assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100 per cent to the general public,” the statement added.
He stated that the estimated pump prices of PMS were obtained from the Dangote Refinery and will be across NNPC retail stations in the country, based on September 2024 pricing.
Recall that the Dangote Group had disagreed with the NNPC on Sunday that it was selling PMS at N898, but it failed to release its price list.
