LEKKI, Nigeria — Dangote Petroleum Refinery don announce reduce for e Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) wey dem dey call petrol, make e fall from N835 per litre to N825 per litre. Dis new price reduction come after small rebate of N10 wey dem dey pay marketers after dem load product for refinery last week.
Sources wey sabi matter tell our correspondent say although marketers still dey pay N835 per litre, dem dey collect N10 back once dem don load products from the refinery. Dis move don help marketers sell petrol for lower price wey fit range from N830 to N835 per litre, and e don place dem better among their competitors wey dey import from abroad.
One official of the refinery talk say, “Dangote refinery don start to dey give rebate on product. E no be official reduction yet, but de money wey dem dey give back na after marketers don buy the product from us.” Dis price adjustment follow the earlier reductions wey happen last month, where refinery slash e price down by N45 from N880 to N835 per litre, due to the restart of Naira-for-Crude agreement with local refiners.
In response to the allegations wey don dey fly say Dangote refinery no get capacity to meet local fuel demand, officials from de refinery strongly deny am. Dem talk say dem get enough fuel to cater for both local needs and foreign market. Aliko Dangote, de founder of de refinery, come accuse some cabals wey be major marketers as enemies wey dey try to stop de success of di $20billion refinery.
Olufemi Adewole, wey be Executive Secretary of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), counter say de marketers just wan maintain their own business by importing fuel. E dismiss allegation of cabal but accept say people wey get interest dey around private depot owners wey don put plenty money to ensure fuel dey flow for Nigeria.
“Despite say Dangote refinery get big capacity of 650,000 barrels, dem never fit meet di local consumption needs,” Adewole talk. “We, de private depot owners dey carry di major burden to distribute fuel for di country.”
However, a senior official from Dangote refinery argue say dem dey load millions of litres every day, and e wonder how di marketers fit conclude say di refinery no fit provide local demand. “I don see different reports wey show say our refinery no fit meet local needs. That one no be correct. We dey produce more than enough fuel for di local market, and we still dey export too,” e conclude.
De consultant wey dey work with de Dangote refinery challenge all marketers to reveal di quantity of fuel di refinery get before dem conclude say no enough dey. “We need to ask dem how dem sabi the amount of stock wey Dangote get,” e talk.
Aliko Dangote, during a recent tour of di refinery, talk say di refinery fit meet 100% of Nigeria’s requirements because local consumption dey fit just about 40% of di production, while de remaining 60% dey go for export.
“We can satisfy more than local needs and we dey make arrangements with some banks to sell our products across Africa,” he add. “We dey produce 57 million litres of petrol every day, 20 million litres of jet fuel, and diesel dey make up to 37 million litres daily.”
As of dis month, di refinery don supply enough litres for local consumption including 33 million litres of PMS, 10 million litres of diesel, and 3 million litres of aviation fuel.
Despite some conflicting reports and challenges in getting accurate daily petrol consumption figures, di Dangote refinery dey confident say na dem go show di true consumption numbers for Nigeria.
In summary, di Dangote refinery dey continue fight for local market recognition and dey work to ensure say im production processes reflect di true state of Nigeria’s fuel consumption, while still overcoming challenges posed by both local interests and market competition.
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