The Dangote Petroleum
has drawn attention
to plots, allegedly by
energy players, to import
substandard petrol, PMS,
and dump it on Nigerians.
This, the refinery
giant said, will ultimately
compromise the health of
Nigerians and damage the
integrity of their vehicles.
A statement by the
Chief Branding and
Communication Officer,
Anthony Chiejina on
Sunday said “if anyone
claims they can land PMS at
a price cheaper than what
we are selling, then they
are importing substandard
products and conniving
with international traders
to dump low quality
products into the country
without concern for the
health of Nigerians or the
longevity of their vehicles,”
Dangote Refinery said.
The refinery said it was
constrained to respond to
the recent misinformation
being circulated by
IPMAN, PETROAN and
other associations.
“Both organisations
claim they can import
PMS at lower than what is
being sold by the Dangote
Refinery. We benchmark
our prices against
international prices and
we believe our prices are
competitive relative to the
price of imports.”
According to Dangote,
“post deregulation, NNPC
set the pace by selling
to domestic marketers
at N971 per litre for sale
into ships, and at N990
for sale into trucks. This
set the benchmark for our
pricing and we have even
gone lower to sell at N960
per litre for sale into ships
while maintaining N990
per litre for sale into trucks.
“In good faith, and in
the interest of the country,
we commenced sales at
these prices without clarity
on the exchange rate that
we will use to pay for the
crude purchased.
“At the same time,
an international trading
company has recently
hired a depot facility next
to the Dangote Refinery,
with the objective of using
it to blend substandard
products that will be
dumped into the market
to compete with Dangote
Refinery’s higher quality
products.
“This is detrimental
to domestic refining in
Nigeria. We should point
out that it is not unusual
for countries to protect
their domestic industries
in order to provide jobs
and grow the economy”.
Dangote called on the
public to “disregard the
deliberate disinformation
being circulated by agents
of people who prefer for us
to continue to export jobs
and import poverty.
