The Dangote Group has refuted reports suggesting that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is currently purchasing petrol from its refinery at a price of N897 per liter.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Group’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, clarified that the company is unable to set the price of petrol as its arrangements with the NNPCL have not been finalized. Chiejina added that the group has taken notice of a headline, “NNPC lifts Dangote Petrol, sells at N897 per liter,” published in a national daily.
“We would like to state that NNPC has not commenced lifting of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, from our Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
“Therefore, the issue of fixing the price of petrol lifted from our refinery does not arise, as we are yet to finalize our contract with NNPC,” the statement read in part.”
The company further emphasised that “the PMS market is strictly regulated, which is known to all oil marketers and stakeholders in the sector,” and therefore, “we cannot determine, fix, or influence the product price, which falls under the purview of relevant government authorities.” In response to the erroneous headline, “NNPC lifts Dangote Petrol, sells at N897 per liter,” the group urged the public to disregard this inaccurate information and reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and fairness in its operations.
Aliko Dangote, the Group Chief Executive Officer, previously disclosed that the Federal Executive Council was working on a new pricing mechanism for petrol produced at the Dangote Refinery. The 650,000-barrel-per-day facility officially unveiled its refined petrol on Tuesday with Dangote announcing that product will be in filling stations in the next 48 hours depending on the country’s national country.
“It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“As soon as it is finalised, which he (Tinubu) is pushing, once we finish with NNPC, it can be today, it can be tomorrow, we are ready to roll into the market,” he said.
Just hours after Dangote’s comments regarding the petrol pricing arrangement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) reportedly instructed its retail outlets to increase the pump price of petrol to N855 per liter. This development occurred only two days after the company acknowledged difficulties in importing fuel due to an outstanding debt of $8 billion.
PRESS STATEMENT
NNPC YET TO LIFT OUR PETROL
Our attention has been drawn to a headline “NNPC lifts Dangote Petrol, sells at N897 per litre” published in the BusinessDay Newspapers of Wednesday, 4 September 2024. We would like to state that NNPC has not commenced lifting of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly know as petrol, from our Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Therefore, the issue of fixing the price of petrol lifted from our refinery does not arise, as we are yet to finalize our contract with NNPC.
The PMS market is strictly regulated which is known to all oil marketers and stakeholders in the sector, hence we can not determine, fix, or influence the product price which falls under the purview of relevant government authorities
We urge the public to disregard the headline as it is misleading and does not represent the true position in this matter. We are guaranteeing Nigerians of exceptionally high quality petroleum products that will be readily available all over the country.
This article was written by Tamaraebiju Jide, a student at Elizade University
