Dangote Refinery has finally made public its petrol prices amidst claims by two industry groups that they can offer lower-priced alternatives.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) had earlier stated they were able to import fuel at more competitive rates than what Dangote Refinery offers.
The refinery, in an official statement released by its Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, addressed these assertions on Sunday evening. Dangote clarified that it sells its petrol at N990 per liter for products transported by truck and at N960 per liter for products shipped by sea.
The statement responded directly to allegations of higher pricing, explaining that their prices are established based on international benchmarks.
According to Dangote Refinery, IPMAN and PETROAN’s claims of cheaper import prices raise concerns about the quality of fuel they are bringing into the country.
Dangote cautioned that if the competing associations are indeed offering significantly cheaper fuel, the products may not meet the quality standards essential for consumer safety.
According to the statement: “We had lately refrained from engaging in media fights, but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations.
“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports. 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.
“In good faith, and in the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchase.
“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, with the objective of using it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.
“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 products 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.”
