Dangote Refinery has accused the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and nd Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) of spreading misinformation regarding petrol pricing and quality.
In a press statement released on Sunday, Dangote’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, asserted that any imported petrol sold at a price lower than that offered by the refinery is substandard.
The refinery warned that such products could pose health risks to Nigerians and potentially damage vehicles.
Citing regulatory lapses, Dangote Refinery expressed concern over the lack of laboratory facilities within the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to detect substandard petrol imports.
Following the deregulation of the petrol market, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) set a benchmark, selling PMS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for ship sales and N990 per litre for truck sales.
According to the statement, Dangote Refinery has since lowered its price to N960 per litre for ship sales while maintaining N990 per litre for truck sales.
The refinery also alleged that a nearby depot, recently hired by an international trading company, plans to blend lower-quality products to compete with Dangote’s premium-grade PMS, a move the refinery claims threatens the growth of Nigeria’s domestic refining industry.
The statement reads, “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.
“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. 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. Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.
“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.
“In good faith, and in the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased.
“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, with the objective of using it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.
“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries in order to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips in order to protect their domestic industries.
“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum products in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty.”
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