Dangote Refinery has addressed concerns regarding the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petroleum, asserting that its product is cheaper than imported alternatives.
The statement comes in response to claims from some marketers, particularly the Independent Petroleum Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), that imported PMS is more affordable than fuel supplied from Dangote Refinery.
Yakubu Suleiman, the national assistant secretary of IPMAN, voiced these concerns during a television interview over the weekend.
He stated, “If Dangote has a product selling for N1,000, let’s assume, and there’s another place selling for N900, we can’t just say, for the sake of our relationship with Dangote, that we’ll instruct our members to buy there. We must go where the price is lower, where we’ll get profit.”
In response, Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of Dangote Refinery, characterized the claims made by IPMAN and other marketers as “misinformation.”
He explained that the refinery benchmarks its prices against international rates, asserting, “We believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports.”
Chiejina further elaborated, stating, “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.”
He criticized the lack of laboratory facilities at the National Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to detect substandard products when imported.
He continued, “Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing, and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.”
Chiejina noted that they commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate for crude purchases. Additionally, he raised concerns about an international trading company that recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery to blend substandard products that could be dumped into the market, thereby undermining the quality of their higher-grade production.
“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria,” he stated, pointing out that it is common for countries to protect their domestic industries to provide jobs and foster economic growth.
He called on the public to disregard what he termed “deliberate disinformation” from those who prefer to see Nigeria continue to export jobs and import poverty while emphasizing their commitment to offering affordable, high-quality domestically refined petroleum products.
