Dangote Petroleum Refinery says the recent reduction in petrol pump prices by marketers was driven solely by its own price cuts — not by the federal government’s suspension of the 15 percent import duty on petroleum products.
Gatekeepers News reports that refinery made this clarification in a statement on Monday, following media reports linking the downward trend to the government’s tariff suspension.
On November 7, Dangote Refinery reduced its ex-gantry petrol price to N828 per litre, having earlier slashed prices on November 6. Days later, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) announced the suspension of the 15 percent import duty.
Some news outlets subsequently attributed the drop at filling stations to the government’s tariff decision — a claim the refinery has now rejected.
“The attention of Dangote Petroleum Refinery has been drawn to a series of misleading publications claiming that the recent reduction in pump prices by oil marketers is a consequence of the Federal Government’s reversal of the 15 per cent import tariff,” the company said.
The firm described the reports as “entirely false, deliberately misleading, and inconsistent with actual market dynamics”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the factor that prompted the price adjustment was our own reduction of PMS gantry and coastal prices on November 6,” it said.
“The subsequent change in pump prices is now being wrongly attributed to a tariff decision in an attempt to distort the facts and misinform the public.”
According to the refinery, its PMS gantry price was reduced from N877 to N828 per litre — a 5.6 percent cut — while the coastal price dropped from N854 to N806 per litre. The company said these reductions were widely announced across major media platforms and implemented before marketers adjusted their pump prices.
The refinery added that the claim linking pump price changes to tariff suspension is inaccurate, noting that the import duty had been approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as far back as October 21.
“Despite the non-implementation of the tariff, we reduced the price of our products,” it said, stressing that its pricing decision “aligns with our long-standing commitment to ensuring Nigerians enjoy the full benefits of domestic refining”.
Dangote Refinery said it has reduced prices more than seven times since commencing operations and has also absorbed logistics costs to maintain nationwide price uniformity, especially during festive periods.
It added that its efforts have helped eliminate the recurring artificial fuel shortages typically seen during holiday seasons.
“Contrary to repeated claims by certain interests, imported products which are often below acceptable standards have consistently been sold at higher pump prices than the premium-grade fuel supplied by Dangote Refinery,” the company said.
It warned that the influx of substandard imported fuel amounts to economic dumping — a practice that harms local industries.
“Nigeria has witnessed the devastating consequences of such unchecked dumping before, including the collapse of the once-thriving textile industry, which was a major employer of labour,” it said.
The company reaffirmed its commitment to producing high-quality, globally benchmarked petroleum products and dismissed what it described as the short-term tactics of “speculative importers who enter and exit the market at will”.
With a long-term investment exceeding $20 billion, the refinery said it remains “steadfastly committed to Nigeria’s energy sector and unfazed by temporary policy shifts”.
