Marketers Want Pump Price Hike By N75 — Dangote Refinery

Dangote Petroleum Refin­ery has revealed that the Depot and Petroleum Prod­ucts Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) requested it to increase the price of petrol and diesel by N75 per litre, to allow its members to match the refinery’s gantry prices at their respective depots.

If implemented, this would result in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and diesel ris­ing to as high as N950 and N1,090 per litre, respective­ly, in some parts of Nigeria.

The refinery disclosed that although it offers pe­troleum products to mar­keters at its gantry price, DAPPMAN insists on tak­ing delivery via coastal lo­gistics.

This option would incur an additional N75 per litre in extra costs. Based on dai­ly consumption volumes of 40 million litres of Premi­um Motor Spirit (PMS) and 15 million litres of Auto­motive Gas Oil (AGO), this amounts to an additional annual cost of N1.505 tril­lion (N1,505,625,000,000), which they effectively asked the refinery to absorb and pass on to Nigerians.

“We wish to make it clear that we have no intention of increasing our gantry price to accommodate such demands, nor are we will­ing to pay a subsidy of over N1.5 trillion, a practice that historically defrauded the Federal Government for many years. DAPPMAN and other marketers are welcome to lift products directly from our gantry and benefit from our logis­tics-free initiative,” it said.

The refinery alleged that its refusal to comply with DAPPMAN’s subsidy request is the core reason behind recent public criti­cisms and attacks.

It reiterated that the re­finery has sufficient capaci­ty to meet domestic demand and support exports as it consistently maintains a closing stock of 500 million litres of refined products in its tanks each month.

“Between June and September, the refinery exported a combined total of 3,229,881 metric tons of PMS, AGO, and aviation fuel, while marketers im­ported 3,687,828 metric tons over the same period, an ac­tion that amounts to dump­ing, which is detrimental to the Nigerian economy and the well-being of its citi­zens,” it said.

Reaffirming its com­mitment to supporting the reform agenda of Presi­dent Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the refinery stated that through various strategic interventions, it has helped stabilise the naira, cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal, position Nigeria as a refining hub, boost foreign exchange earnings, and create employment op­portunities across multiple sectors.

“We enjoy strong work­ing relationships with government agencies and remain committed to sup­porting their efforts, while not hesitating to hold insti­tutions accountable where necessary.”