The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday may justify the importation of the commodity into Nigeria, oil marketers have said.
Dealers also stated that vessels of imported petrol should start arriving in Nigeria from Tuesday (today) as they called for transparency in the pricing of the PMS produced by the Dangote refinery.
This came as the Organised Private Sector faulted the role of NNPC as the sole off-taker of petrol from the $20bn Lekki-based refinery. They called for competition in the space, adding that NNPC’s role as sole off-taker would not encourage this.
On Monday, NNPC announced that it would sell the petrol lifted from the Dangote refinery at a price above N1,000/litre in the far north.
Its spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, in a statement titled, ‘NNPC Ltd Releases Estimated Pump Prices of PMS from Dangote Refinery Based on September 2024 Pricing’.
Soneye explained that the price may go for as high as N1,019/litre in Borno State and N999.22 in Abuja, Sokoto, Kano, and others.
In Oyo, Rivers and other areas in the South, it will be N960/litre. The lowest price, according to an info graphic released by the NNPC, is N950 in Lagos and its environs.
“The NNPC Ltd has released estimated prices of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol (obtained from the Dangote refinery) in its retail stations across the country.
“The NNPC Ltd also wishes to state that, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, PMS prices are not set by the government, but negotiated directly between parties at an arm’s length,” he stated.
The company explained that the product it loaded on Sunday was paid for in dollars.
“The NNPC Ltd can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as naira transactions will only commence on October 1, 2024.
“The NNPC Ltd assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100 per cent to the general public,” the statement added.
Soneye stated that the estimated pump prices of PMS were obtained from the Dangote refinery and would be across NNPC retail stations in Nigeria based on September 2024 pricing.
Recall that the Dangote Group had disagreed with NNPC on Sunday on the N898/litre PMS cost announced by NNPC as the price at which Dangote sold the commodity.