The Dangote Group has dismissed reports that Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is currently lifting petrol from its refinery at a price of N897 per litre.
A statement by the Group’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, on Thursday, said that the company cannot fix the price of petrol as it has yet to finalise its arrangement with the NNPCL
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Chiejina said the attention of the group has been drawn to a headline, ‘NNPC lifts Dangote Petrol, sells at N897 per litre’, published in a national daily.
“We would like to state that NNPC has not commenced lifting of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, from our Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
“Therefore, the issue of fixing the price of petrol lifted from our refinery does not arise, as we are yet to finalize our contract with NNPC,” the statement read in part.”
The company further emphasised that “the PMS market is strictly regulated, which is known to all oil marketers and stakeholders in the sector,” and therefore, “we cannot determine, fix, or influence the product price, which falls under the purview of relevant government authorities.”
It urged the public to disregard the erroneous headline and reassured Nigerians of their commitment to transparency and fairness in their operations.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Aliko Dangote, had revealed that the Federal Executive Council was working on a new pricing arrangement for petrol produced from the Dangote Refinery.
The 650,000-barrel-per-day facility officially unveiled its refined petrol on Tuesday with Dangote announcing that product will be in filling stations in the next 48 hours depending on the country’s national oil company.
“It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“As soon as it is finalised, which he (Tinubu) is pushing, once we finish with NNPC, it can be today, it can be tomorrow, we are ready to roll into the market,” he said.
Hours after Dangote’s comments, NNPCL reportedly directed its retail outlets to raise the pump price of petrol to N855 per litre.
The development came barely two days after the company admitted to challenges in importing fuel due to an $8 billion debt.
In a related development, the NNPC says it has supplied 30 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote oil refinery, with plans to provide an additional 17 million barrels soon.
Adedapo Segun, the Executive Vice President of NNPCL Downstream, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking on Arise Television.
Segun said the company will supply 6.3 million barrels in September and an additional 11.3 million barrels in October.
“We have supplied about 30 million barrels to Dangote so far—6.3 million this month, and we will supply 11.3 million in October,” Segun stated.
He added that this is part of the Federal Government’s decision to sell crude to local refineries.
Segun noted that the 6.3 million barrels will be delivered in seven cargoes, while expressing concern that the current pump price does not reflect market realities.
“The pump price today is not reflective of the market. NNPCL is the sole importer of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country, which is abnormal. We should be moving towards a situation where the free market determines prices,” he said,
He clarified that NNPC’s role as the sole importer of petrol was not a deliberate decision but rather a response to market conditions.
“Let me put it into proper perspective. NNPC is not a regulator. We didn’t choose to be the sole importer. We don’t determine who participates in the market. We stepped in when others reduced their participation. It is not about us wanting to be monopolists,” Segun stated.
He further explained that achieving a stable fuel supply and price would require ideal market conditions, including a more liquid foreign exchange market.
“Market conditions need to be ideal, and there needs to be FX liquidity,” he added, suggesting that broader economic reforms may be needed to address the fuel pricing issue.