The Dangote Petroleum Refinery says any oil marketer that sells petrol cheaper than the price it offers is importing substandard products.
In a statement on Sunday, the refinery countered claims by
some oil marketers that the cost of the product is higher than that of the
imported petrol.
On November 1, the Independent Petroleum Marketers
Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said petrol — also known as premium motor spirit
(PMS) — from the refinery is more expensive than buying from other sources.
Yakubu Suleiman, national assistant secretary of IPMAN,
speaking on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme, said the group’s members
go for more affordable options at other depots across Nigeria than the high
logistical costs associated with buying petrol from the Dangote refinery.
Therefore, the oil marketers vowed to import the commodity
and sell it below the Dangote refinery price as well as the price being sold by
the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, according to a report
by Punch Newspapers.
Responding to these claims, the refinery said its ex-depot
price of petrol is N990 per litre for trucks and N960 per litre for ships.
The firm said that the prices are benchmarked against the
international prices and the amount the NNPC sold to local marketers,
“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,” the statement reads.
“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.”
‘INTERNATIONAL TRADING COMPANY TO BLEND
SUBSTANDARD PRODUCTS IN NIGERIA’
The refinery also alleged that an international trading
company is planning to blend substandard products close to its plant.
“…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,” the company said.
“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.”
The company said it is committed to providing affordable,
good-quality, domestically refined petroleum products for Nigerians.
The refinery called on the public to ignore “deliberate
disinformation being spread by those who favour Nigeria continuing to export
jobs and import poverty”.
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