THE price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) may justify the importation of the commodity into Nigeria, oil marketers have warned.
Dealers also stated that vessels of imported petrol should start arriving in Nigeria from yesterday, 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.
Recall that the Dangote Group had disagreed with NNPC on the N898/litre PMS cost announced by NNPC as the price at which Dangote sold the commodity.
Major oil marketers stated that the high price of the Dangote petrol released by NNPC would encourage the importation of the commodity, as they noted that some PMS vessels might arrive in Nigeria, yesterday.
“As it is now, I don’t know what magic they (NNPC and Dangote) are going to perform because a lot of companies are surely going to be involved in the importation of PMS. This is because whatever is going to come out of that place (Dangote refinery), it is either there will not be enough transparency in the allocation of the product, or there will be other issues.
“Also, some big players may not get enough quantity from the plant and they will have to complete this with imported products. Like I told you, all things being equal, from September 17 (today), PMS vessels by marketers, not NNPC, should start coming into the country,” a major marketer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.
