Victor Ezeja
Dangote Refinery has finally revealed how much it is selling its Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol, to marketers. The company said it is selling PMS at N990 per litre to trucks and N960 for ship deliveries.
The company revealed this in a statement issued on Sunday, by the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThis comes amid claims by domestic petroleum marketers that they can import the product at cheaper rate.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) said they can import petrol at prices lower than what is being sold at Dangote Refinery.
However, the Dangote refinery’s spokesperson, said any imported fuel that is cheaper than locally produced high quality one would likely be a substandard product.
The statement said the refinery’s petroleum prices are benchmarked against international prices, and are competitive relative to the price of imports.
READ ALSO: Dangote Refinery: IPMAN Needs Authorisation From NNPCL To Get Supply
“We benchmark our prices against international prices, and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports,” it stated.
“If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles. Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.
“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing, and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.”
The Dangote Group stated that it had in good faith, and in the interest of the country, begun sales at these prices without being sure of the exchange rate that it will use to pay for the crude purchased.
It further alleged that an international trading company recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, with the aim of using it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with the Refinery’s higher quality production.
READ ALSO: IPMAN Counters Dangote On Petrol Supply, Says Marketers Unable To Lift Product Directly
“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries.
“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum product in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
