Nigeria’s oil marketers have indicated that the launch of Dangote Refinery could potentially lower petrol prices to a range of N600 – N650 per litre based on production costs.
This information was disclosed by the National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, in a statement released on Monday.
Fashola’s statement follows reports suggesting that the $20 billion refinery may not begin fuel production as initially projected by Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote Group.
Fashola explained that the Lagos-based refinery continues to face challenges related to crude oil supply.
He noted that the official petrol price from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is currently N570 per litre, while private depots sell at N700 per litre.
Nonetheless, he emphasised that with the introduction of Dangote’s fuel, the pump price could drop to N600 or N650 per litre.
“The official price from the NNPC is around N570 per litre, but the third parties, the private depots, sell PMS to most of our members at N700 and above.
“Plus or minus, we hope Dangote can sell between N600 and N650 per litre. N600 is still okay. However, it depends on the cost of the production from Dangote’s end”, he said.
Remember that the Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission had a dispute last week regarding 26 million barrels of crude oil allocation.