IPMAN Rejects NNPCL’s price for Dangote Refinery’s Petrol, says it’s senseless to celebrate higher cost than imports
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, on Monday, rejected the pricing of petrol from the Dangote Refinery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL.
The NNPCL had priced the petrol from the 650000 barrels per day refinery above imported fuel, but the IPMAN has kicked against it, saying the celebration over the local Refinery would be senseless.
John Kekeocha, IPMAN’s National Welfare Officer, who appeared on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief breakfast programme on Monday, argued that it would be counterproductive to sell Dangote petrol higher than the imported one, adding that it would hurt the country’s quest for energy self-sufficiency and negatively impact both the consumers and marketers.
He posited that the pricing strategy for locally refined petrol should reflect the advantages of domestic production and offer the people Nigerians a more affordable option.
According to Kekeocha, Dangote Refinery needs competitive pricing to succeed, as well as to foster a sustainable fuel market in the country.
The NNPCL lifted the first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, claiming that Dangote sold the petrol to them at N898 per litre, a claim that Dangote refuted but did not state the price.
The spokesperson of the company, Anthony Chiejina, in a statement, described the NNPCL claim as “misleading and mischievous”.
“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature,” the statement read.
NNPCL did not retract its claim but instead announced the pricing breakdown of Dangote petrol at its filling stations across the country.
Before lifting petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, petrol was sold for about N855 at NNPCL retail outlets in Lagos but a litre of Dangote petrol now sells for N950 per litre in Lagos and as high as N1,019 in Borno.
The $20 billion Dangote Refinery, which is located in Lagos, began operations in December.
It had earlier commenced the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol but rolled out petrol on Sunday.
