A report by Bloomberg has revealed that Dangote Petroleum Refinery will determine the price of petrol from October, contrary to earlier statements by Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL).
Gatekeepers News reports that Dangote had announced the commencement of petrol production at his refinery on Tuesday, stating that the price of petrol from his plant would be determined by the federal executive council (FEC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
However, sources told Bloomberg that the federal government is considering allowing the refinery to set the price of petrol it sells. “Nigeria will allow Dangote to set the price of gasoline to petroleum marketers starting next month,” the sources said.
Temitope Ajayi, senior special assistant (SSA) to the president on media and publicity, confirmed that Dangote will not sell the product below market price. “Dangote Refinery will certainly not sell their products below market value as a business that was set up to make profit,” Ajayi said.
The development comes as Nigerians continue to experience petrol scarcity, with the national oil firm increasing the pump price of petrol to N855 across its retail outlets on September 3.
Adedapo Segun, executive vice-president of downstream at the NNPC, said the company will supply over 17.6 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery between September and October.
Segun also stated that the current petrol price does not reflect market realities and that Nigeria should move towards market-reflective prices to promote competition.
