Dangote Petroleum Refinery has addressed the reasons it cannot independently set the price of petrol, following reports claiming otherwise. In a statement issued on Thursday, Anthony Chiejina, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, emphasized that the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) market is heavily regulated. This regulation, he noted, applies to all players in the oil sector, which is why Dangote Refinery has no control over the pricing of petrol.
Chiejina dismissed a recent report by an online news platform (not Vanguard) which claimed that Dangote had fixed the price of its refined petrol at N897 per litre. He stated clearly that the refinery had not yet begun supplying products to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).
“Our attention has been drawn to a headline, ‘NNPC lifts Dangote Petrol, sells at N897 per litre’, published in an online media outlet on September 4, 2024,” Chiejina said. He further clarified that no refined petrol had been lifted by NNPCL from the Dangote refinery. As a result, there was no basis for the claim that a price had been set for their petrol.
He continued: “We would like to state that NNPC has not commenced lifting of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) 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.”
Chiejina reiterated that the regulation of PMS pricing falls within the jurisdiction of relevant government authorities, not the Dangote Group. “The PMS market is strictly regulated, which is known to all oil marketers and stakeholders in the sector, hence we cannot determine, fix, or influence the product price.”
The Dangote official urged Nigerians to ignore the misleading report and reassured the public of the refinery’s commitment to providing high-quality petroleum products across the country once production and distribution commence.
“We are guaranteeing Nigerians of exceptionally high-quality petroleum products that will be readily available all over the country,” Chiejina concluded.
