The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has stated that any oil marketer that sells premium motor spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, cheaper than the price it offers is importing substandard products.
The refinery, through a statement issued on Sunday, opposed claims by some oil marketers that the cost of its product is expensive than that of the imported petrol.
On November 1, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said petrol — from the refinery is more expensive than purchasing from other sources.
The national assistant secretary of IPMAN, Yakubu Suleiman, whilst speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme, said the group’s members go for more inexpensive options at other depots across Nigeria instead of the high logistical costs associated with buying petrol from the Dangote refinery.
Consequently, the oil marketers declared that they would import the commodity and sell it below the Dangote refinery price as well as the price being sold by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, according to a report made available by Punch Newspapers.
Dangote refinery, in its response to these claims, said its ex-depot price of petrol is N990 per litre for trucks and N960 per litre for ships.
The company added that the prices are fixed against the international prices and the amount the NNPC sold to local marketers,
“We had lately refrained from engaging in media fights but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations,” the statement reads.
“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices 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.
“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.
“Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.”
Furthermore, the refinery alleged that an international trading company is scheming to blend substandard products close to its plant.
“…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 production,” the company said.
“This is detrimental to the growth of 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.
“For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries.”
The refinery reiterated that it is committed to providing affordable, good-quality, domestically refined petroleum products for Nigerians.
The company then called on the public to ignore “deliberate disinformation being spread by those who favour Nigeria continuing to export jobs and import poverty”.