Jonathan Nwokpor
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There are hints that the $20 billion Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited might be facing new difficulties.
This appears to be the case, as NNPCL denied on Saturday that it was the only buyer of petrol at Dangote Refinery.
Remember that on Saturday, Olufemi Soneye, the spokesperson for NNPCL, made it clear that the government-owned oil company would not be the only one purchasing Dangote’s petrol.
NNPCL clarified its position in response to Muslim Rights Concern, which asserted that NNPCL was undermining the Dangote refinery.
According to MURIC, NNPCL retail outlets recently raised the price of gasoline at the pump to N897 from N617 per litre in order to prevent Dangote Refinery from selling PMS at a lower price.
NNPCL did, however, clarify that the firm’s recent increase in pump pricing has no bearing on the refinery and that DRL prices are set by forces in the worldwide market.
“If current prices are perceived as high, it presents an ideal opportunity for the refinery to sell its products at lower prices in the Nigerian market.”
Dangote Refinery is free to sell its PMS to marketers, NNPCL emphasised.
The stance, however, runs counter to what Dangote Refinery President Aliko Dangote stated last week when he announced the refinery’s petrol rollout.
Dangote had stated that NNPCL will choose when his petrol would be launched.
Dangote Petrol “will be ready in 48 hours, depending on NNPCL,” he declared.
A major obstacle faces the 650,000 barrels per day refinery in the wake of NNPCL’s recent declaration that “it will only fully offtake PMS from the DRL if the market prices of PMS are higher than the pump prices in Nigeria.”
Who would purchase the petrol from Dangote Refinery continues to be a puzzle. NNPCL has already stated that it would lift petrol from Dangote Refinery on September 15, 2024, but the most recent announcement has Nigerians feeling even more uneasy.
Recall that last week, at the Brekete Family Live program, Dangote Industries Limited Vice President of Oil and Gas, Devakumar Edwin, threatened to export Dangote petrol if the nation’s petroleum dealers, including the NNPCL, declined to buy it.
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