The spokesman of Dangote Refinery Limited (DRL) has issued a statement to denounce “the statement attributed to NNPCL spokesman, Mr Olufemi Soneye , that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL”. DRL’s press release, signed by Anthony Chiejina, the Chief Group Branding and Communication Officer of the Dangote Group, describes the NNPCL’s statement in which the state-owned oil company claimed that it is buying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, from Dangote Refinery at N898 per litre as “both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, 15 September, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity which has bedevilled the economy in the past 50 years”.
Dangote Refinery’s statement urged Nigerians to disregard the “malicious statement” from the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and wait for a formal statement on the price of petrol that the DRL is supplying marketers through the NNPLC, its sole off taker. According to the Dangote Statement, the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based Crude Oil Sales to Local Refineries that was appointed by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Contrary to popular understanding, the “naira-based” crude oil supply to the NNPLC will commence on 1 October, 2024.
We Sold the Products in Dollars to the NNPLC
The statement from Dangote Refinery made it known that the petroleum that the NNPLC started lifting today Sunday 15th of September was produced from its “current stock of crude” which has been “procured in dollars”. DRL also claimed that despite selling to the NNPLC in dollars, its pricing comes “with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing”. Dangote Refinery’s statement did not however disclose the price it is selling petrol at to the NNPCL. Dangote Refinery asserted that with the commencement of supply of petrol to the NNPLC, Nigerians will be able to get the product no matter how remote their local government is.
Earlier, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced that it had acquired fuel from the Dangote Refinery at a rate of N898 per liter. The company mobilized approximately 300 trucks to the Lagos-based refinery, which has a capacity of 650,000 liters, with loading operations beginning on Sunday.
NNPCL’s Chief Spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, clarified the situation, stating, “We successfully loaded Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at the Dangote Refinery today. The assertion that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect. For this initial batch, the refinery’s price was N898 per liter.” He also noted that over 70 trucks had been loaded with fuel during this operation.
The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited and Dangote Refinery: A Strange Relationship
The Dangote Refinery initially announced early in September that it would sell its Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) exclusively to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). However, NNPCL later issued a counterstatement on the 7th of September denying this exclusivity. NNPCL’s statement also included an unusual condition, stating it would only purchase the refinery’s fuel if it was priced below the existing “pump price in Nigeria,” which is heavily subsidized. The NNPLC turned around last Friday to announce that it would start lifting petrol from Dangote Refinery on Sunday 16th September as the sole off taker.
The retention of the fuel subsidy which the NNPCL and the Federal Government continue to insist no longer exists lies at the heart of the “forced relationship” between Dangote Refinery, the privately-built largest refinery in Africa and the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, a state-owned company that has a global reputation for waste, corruption and inefficiency. Without the subsidy, Dangote Refinery would be able to sell its petrol directly to marketers without the endless haggling over pricing which seems to be going on between the NNPLC and Dangote Refinery.
It is not likely that the press statements issued today by the two business partners (the NNPCL has a 7.5 per cent shareholding in Dangote Refinery) will be the last in the war of press statements.
