The highly anticipated commencement of petrol supply from the Dangote Refinery has been overshadowed by a pricing dispute between the refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
Despite hopes for a potential reduction in petrol prices, NNPC's release of a new pricing template has dashed those expectations, with pump prices increasing by about 11% to N950 per litre in Lagos.
The pump price hike comes just two weeks after a 45% increase, which was apparently in anticipation of the refinery's output.
However, the disagreement between NNPC and Dangote Refinery over the product's price has led to a clarification by NNPC's Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, that Dangote petrol will not sell cheaper.
According to the pricing document titled "Estimated pump price based on Dangote Refinery September 2024 PMS supply", the base cost of petrol from the refinery is set at N898 per litre.
Additional costs, such as NMDPRA charges, MDGIF charges, distribution, and logistics, bring the effective pump price in Lagos to N950.22 per litre, up from the current rate of N855 per litre.
The price adjustments extend across the country, with Abuja now at N992.22 per litre, up from N897. Kaduna, Kano, and Sokoto have also seen increases to N992.22, while consumers in Borno will pay the highest pump price at N1,019 per litre.
NNPC maintains that it loaded the product at N898 per litre from Dangote and challenges anyone with contrary figures to make them public.
The company emphasizes that in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), PMS prices are negotiated directly between parties, and NNPC is paying Dangote Refinery in dollars for the September 2024 offtake, with Naira transactions commencing on October 1st, 2024.
