Again, Dangote Refinery Alerts Nigerians Over Import of Inferior Petroleum Products

• The Dangote Refinery has blamed the NMDPRA for allowing the import of substandard petroleum products into Nigeria
• The mega refinery said that the claims of importers getting petrol cheaper than its prices are untrue
• The plant disclosed that it has benchmarked its product at international market prices

Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.

Dangote Refinery has alerted Nigerians over the import of substandard petroleum products and the lack of laboratory facilities by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to detect them.

The mega refinery disclosed that international traders allegedly bring these products used daily by Nigerian vehicle owners into the country.

Marketers vow to crash petrol prices

A previous report noted that marketers said the Dangote Refinery sells petrol at a higher cost than imported fuel.

The marketers vowed to import products and sell cheaper than Dangote Refinery’s prices.

However, Dangote stated that it set its ex-depot petrol prices at N990 per litre for sales into trucks and N960 for ships, adding that its fuel prices are competitive relative to international market prices.

The refinery's statement was disclosed by the Group's Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejine, in response to issues raised by the marketers.

Dangote blames NMDPRA for inferior products 

The statement partly reads:

"If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low-quality products into the country." 

Chiejine said that an international trading firm had established an oil depot in Nigeria close to the Dangote Refinery to undercut its high-quality production by filling the market with cheaper and inferior products.

According to Chiejine, the NMDPRA lacks the required laboratory facilities to detect substandard products imported into Nigeria.

Marketers import N833 billion worth of fuel

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s prominent oil marketers have benefited from the country’s subsidy removal on petroleum products.

The change has allowed marketers to operate in a more market-driven environment, leading to more financial gains.

Subsidy removal leads to increasing gains for marketers

In the first nine months of 2024, four prominent oil marketers reported a vast revenue gain, earning about N1.3 trillion from selling petroleum products to Nigerians.

Despite the vast fuel import costs, the oil firms spent N833.86 billion importing petroleum products within the period, increasing their gross profit on petrol sales to N465.92 billion.

The information is based on the firm’s nine-month financial statements on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

The oil firms include TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria, MRS Oil Nigeria, Eterna Plc, and Conoil Plc.

Marketers speak of Dangote petrol price

Legit.ng earlier reported that petroleum products marketers explained why they could not purchase petrol from the Dangote Refinery despite ample supplies.

The development followed a recent alarm by the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, over the alleged boycott of his refinery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and marketers.

The Nigerian billionaire said that the persistent queues in several filling stations nationwide are caused by marketers and NNPC not patronising his refinery.

Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.