With the company’s recent price template announcement, petroleum marketers claimed that the $20 billion Dangote refinery was not constructed to offer cheaper gasoline, shattering Nigerians’ hopes of finding cheaper Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol).
In an exclusive interview on Tuesday, Billy Gillis-Harry, President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), and Abubakar Maigandi, National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, revealed this.
The Dangote Petrol price pattern, which was revealed on Sunday, prompted a response from the fuel marketers.
Anthony Chiejina, a spokesman for the Dangote Group, declared on Sunday that the price of Dangote gasoline for trucks and ships was N990 and N960 per liter, respectively.
Months after gasoline distribution began, Dangote Petrol’s pricing was announced on September 15, 2024.
Additionally, the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria revealed that, as of October 31, 2024, the landing cost of imported gasoline was N978 per liter.
In response, Gillis-Harry stated that the ex-depot pricing differences between Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s N1025 per liter and Dangote Petrol’s N990 per litre were not substantial enough to deter imports.
He asserts that if Dangote Refinery had been acting in the best interests of Nigerians, their gasoline would have been less expensive than imported alternatives.
“There is a N35 discrepancy between the Dangote Refinery pricing of N990 and NNPCL’s price of N1025 per litre. If Dangote Petrol had been a firm that cared about Nigerians, its price would have been lower.
“With his current price template of N990 per litre (to trucks), we cannot predict how much Dangote Petrol will sell when it finally lands across states,” he said.
Maigandi claimed that Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group, had received an inaccurate briefing regarding the operations of petroleum marketers.
He further emphasized how important it is that Dangote sell its gasoline directly to IPMAN members.
He claims that IPMAN’s main goal is to purchase gasoline straight from the Dangote Refinery in order to lower the final product price at its retail locations around the country.
Perhaps Dangote isn’t receiving enough information on IPMAN. Anyone who claims he wants to battle IPMAN in the oil industry will fail because we have 85 percent of filling stations in Nigeria.
Last week Friday, IPMAN hinted at plans to source cheaper petrol for Nigerians amid higher ex-depot prices of Dangote Petrol.
Meanwhile, worried about the surge in imports despite domestic petrol production, Damgote had dragged NNPCL and other marketers to court to annul their import licences.
However, in an update, Dangote announced that the case had been overtaken by event.
Recall that upon the lifting of Dangote Petrol on September 16, 2024, NNPCL hiked fuel prices.
There have been several petrol price hikes since then, which took fuel to between N1,025 and N1,300 per litre.
Since we are under a deregulation regime, we are unable to criticize the Dangote price. In order to sell to Nigerians at a lower price than we now do, we are promoting purchasing gasoline directly from the Dangote refinery,” he stated.
This comes as Nigerians complain about the high cost of fuel and how it affects the cost of goods and services across the country.
Protesters demanding the dismissal of Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned oil company, stormed NNPCL headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
Other filling stations across the country offer PMS for between N1,115 and N1,300, while NNPCL retail shops sell it for between N1025 and N1060.
