Dangote Refinery has publicly addressed the ongoing controversy over its petroleum pricing, announcing official rates of N960 per litre for ship deliveries and N990 per litre for truck collections, amid accusations from independent marketers about pricing concerns.
Anthony Chiejina, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer for Dangote, issued a statement Sunday defending the company’s pricing strategy and addressing claims made by petroleum marketers’ associations.
“We had lately refrained from engaging in media fights, but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations,” Chiejina stated.
“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports,” Chiejina added.
The refinery raise concerns about product quality, suggesting that competitors offering lower prices might be compromising on standards.
“If anyone claims they can land petrol at a price cheaper than the price Dangote is selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low-quality products into the country, without concerns for the health of Nigerians or their vehicles.”
Chiejina revealed that the company’s pricing strategy follows NNPC’s benchmark.
“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.”
This announcement comes in response to criticism from the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN). Yakubu Suleiman, IPMAN’s National Assistant Secretary, had earlier stated on ARISE TV,
“Like last week, Dangote’s price is higher than other places. Because if you can go by the price, the international price of crude has already started coming down. If I could remember, as of last week, he gave N995 per litre, and you have to bring your cargo and load.”
The controversy deepened when Aliko Dangote, founder and president/chief executive of the Dangote Group, revealed last Tuesday that the refinery has over 500 million litres of petrol in stock, questioning why NNPC and private retailers continue importing fuel.
The refinery also addressed allegations about product availability, stating that it has not received any payments from IPMAN for refined petroleum products, contrary to claims about loading difficulties.
