The Dangote Refinery has refuted claims of selling petrol at N898 per litre to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL).
This denial was issued by Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of the refinery, on September 15, 2024.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) began loading Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, September 15, 2024, after months of delays related to pricing negotiations and final preparations at the refinery.
Contrary to circulating reports, Olufemi Soneye, Corporate Communications Manager of NNPC, clarified that the claims of purchasing petrol from the refinery at N1,300 or N760 per litre were incorrect. He stated that the actual price for this initial loading was N898 per litre, a figure determined by market forces in the now deregulated petroleum market. Soneye also confirmed that NNPC would receive 16.8 million litres from this first load.
Prior to the commencement of operations, NNPC had announced plans to position 300 trucks at the refinery’s loading gantry, ready to distribute petrol across the country.
However, Chiejina dismissed the reported price of N898 per litre as misleading and claimed that it was a deliberate attempt to undermine the progress achieved in addressing Nigeria’s energy insufficiency. He clarified that Dangote Refinery sells its products to NNPC in dollars, which has led to significant savings compared to previous importation costs.
Chiejina assured Nigerians that the supply of quality petroleum products would soon improve nationwide, including remote areas, as part of efforts to end the country’s long-standing fuel scarcity issues.
He urged the public to disregard the misleading statements and to await the official announcement on pricing by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales, which is set to begin operations on October 1, 2024. He added that the current stock of crude was procured in dollars, further emphasizing the need for clarity in the ongoing discussions.
