Dangote refinery refutes marketers’ projection on petrol price

The management of the Dangote petroleum refinery has stated that it has fixed the price of the Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.

The Group’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, made this known in a statement on Tuesday while reacting to a report with the headline “Marketers Project N600/litre for Dangote Petrol”.

The PUNCH had reported that Independent petroleum marketers in Nigeria are hoping that the Dangote refinery will sell its petrol at N600 or N650/litre when it is finally released into the market.

Dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria said they believe that the Dangote refinery would crash the price of petrol as it did with diesel.

IPMAN National Vice President, Hammed Fashola, told our correspondent in an interview on Monday that the $20bn refinery would bring down the cost of fuel if it gets the needed support, especially as it has to do with crude supply.

According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, which is the sole importer of petrol, has been selling to marketers at N570/litre, but most IPMAN members buy from private depot owners at N700 and above.

However, the Dangote refinery stated that it does not have any business deal with IPMAN and has never discussed the price of petrol with the oil marketers.

It, therefore, asked Nigerians and the general public to ignore the announcement, describing it as speculative.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to headlines announcing “Marketers Project N600/litre for Dangote Petrol” published in Punch Newspapers on Tuesday, August 13, 2024.

“We would like to clarify that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria is not our business partner yet. We have never discussed the price of Premium Motor Spirit with them, and they have no mandate or authority to speak for us, either for good or with the hidden transcript.

“We urge the public to desist from such speculative announcements. We have our official channels through which we make our views known to our stakeholders.”