As the Dangote Petrochemical Refinery brand of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) is anticipated to hit the local market in two to three weeks, marketers have expressed concerns that the product’s price may be higher than expected.
This the marketers conveyed speaking against the backdrop of the refinery’s failed attempt to hit 650,000-capacity getting feedstock locally from the international oil companies (IOCs) hence, Dangote Refinery continued to import crude oil from the United States and other countries at a higher cost.
A situation has reportedly made Dangote Refinery’s diesel and aviation fuel not very attractive to some local marketers due to pricing.
The marketers, who spoke on Monday, 01 July raised concerns that the cost of importing crude oil would impact the cost of production, a development that may eventually hike the ex-depot price of the Dangote PMS.
The Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said PMS from the refinery will hit the Nigerian market by the third week of July.
Marketers and Nigerians have been hopeful that the Dangote refinery will cut down the price of PMS which jumped from around N200/litre to over N600/litre after the removal of fuel subsidies by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023.
However, there are fears among stakeholders that Dangote’s lack of access to local crude oil may dash Nigerians’ hope of getting cheaper PMS. Speaking in an interview the National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN) Hammed Fashola, said the association was afraid that crude imports would jerk up the price of Dangote petrol.
According to Fashola, the refusal of IOCs to sell crude oil to Dangote will be a big challenge to the $20bn refinery, even as he acknowledged that the IOCs also have other business commitments.
To resolve this, the IPMAN leader asked the Federal Government to assist Dangote with the supply of crude oil. This, he said, would solve the problems Nigerians face with fuel availability and affordability. Fashola, however, enjoined Dangote not to monopolise the petroleum if he eventually got the support of the government, saying the refinery must sell PMS at a reasonable price.
