Dangote refinery counters NNPC’s claim of selling petrol at N898 per litre

By Abubakar Yunusa

Dangote Petroleum Refinery says the claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited that the refiner sold petrol at N898 per litre is misleading.

In a statement on Sunday, the company described the claim by NNPC as “mischievous”.

Earlier, Olufemi Soneye, the chief corporate communications officer of NNPC, told TheCable that “this initial loading, it was N898 per litre so far”.

NNPC began loading petrol from the refinery on Sunday.

Addressing the price announced by NNPC, Dangote refinery said Nigerians should disregard the “malicious statement” and await a formal announcement on the pricing by the technical sub-committee on naira-based crude sales to local refineries.

“Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL,” the company said.

“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.

“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.

“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.”

Dangote refinery assured Nigerians of the availability of quality petroleum products and ending petrol scarcity in the country.

On Saturday, NNPC mobilised over 100 trucks to Dangote refinery to load petrol after the federal government said the national oil company will be the sole distributor for petrol produced by the refiner.

The company commenced petrol production on September 3.

On the same day, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the Dangote refinery is expected to supply 25 million litres of petrol daily in September and will subsequently increase the volume to 30 million litres daily from October.