Oil marketers in Nigeria have announced that they will begin loading Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery starting next week. This comes as excitement builds around the multi-billion dollar Lagos-based refinery, with some marketers already sending trucks to the plant to prepare for loading.
Reports suggest that some dealers are also expecting imported petrol to arrive in the country before the end of September. Major marketers have indicated that vessels carrying imported fuel are expected to dock within the next 10 days, adding to the supply.
The Dangote Group President, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, recently stated that only the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) would initially lift petrol from the refinery. However, several oil marketers confirmed on Friday that preparations were already underway for them to start loading petrol from the refinery.
Speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions, one major marketer said, “We should start loading from the plant next week. Many marketers are also planning to import PMS before the end of the month. This shows that the deregulation of petrol prices is now fully in place. Nobody wants to depend solely on the NNPC anymore.”
The initial supply from the Dangote refinery is expected to be 25 million liters of petrol per day. However, there has been no agreement on the pricing of petrol from the refinery.
According to one dealer, “There’s no agreement on price yet, but we’re estimating the cost to be around N1,100 per litre, with some anticipating a retail price of about N1,200 per litre from the depots.”
The shift to importing and lifting fuel from the Dangote refinery signals the full implementation of Nigeria’s deregulated oil sector. Last week, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, confirmed that the government would no longer set prices for petroleum products.
“This sector is deregulated. We believe that with the availability of products, the price of petrol will find its level. Nigerians should know that the government is not fixing prices anymore,” Lokpobiri said.
Lokpobiri’s comments followed NNPC’s recent increase in pump prices of petrol, with prices rising from around N620 per litre to as high as N855 and N897 per litre, depending on location.
While discussions about petrol prices from the Dangote refinery are ongoing, oil marketers remain optimistic about their plans to load and import fuel. The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, confirmed that many marketers had initiated moves to import petrol and load from the Dangote refinery. However, Maigandi could not provide details about the price of petrol from the refinery or the landing cost of imported products.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Dangote refinery, Tony Chiejina, has yet to respond to inquiries about the situation. Additionally, NNPC’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, denied claims that the NNPC had already started loading petrol from the Dangote refinery. When asked to verify whether NNPC had begun lifting petrol, Soneye responded with a simple “false.”