In a bid to remain competitive, fuel importers in Nigeria have dropped petrol prices below the price offered by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery. This development has sparked a new wave of competition in the industry, with some filling stations selling petrol at prices lower than N860 per litre. According to findings, Dangote partners such as MRS, Heyden, and others sell petrol at N865 or N875 in Lagos and Ogun States, while some importers are selling at N815 per litre.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, confirmed the ongoing downward price review by importers. “Depot owners are dropping their petrol prices. Some of them are selling N815, some are selling N817, while Dangote is selling N820. NNPC is still selling at N825; it has not dropped its prices yet,” Ukadike disclosed. He described this as the beauty of market liberalisation, saying President Bola Tinubu should not heed calls to ban fuel importation.
The development comes amid a call by Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, for the Federal Government to ban fuel importation. Dangote argued that local refiners are finding it difficult to sell their products due to what he called dumping. He alleged that importers are dumping toxic fuel that would never be allowed in Europe. However, marketers disagree with Dangote, urging the Federal Government not to consider adding petroleum products to the list of items banned from importation under the ‘Nigeria First’ policy.
Ukadike emphasized that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority is in place to check substandard fuels. “This is the beauty of the liberalisation of the market. That is why we opined that the President should not ban anybody from importing petroleum products. Nobody should be stopped from bringing in petroleum products. That is the beauty of opening up the market,” Ukadike said.
The competition between Dangote and fuel importers is expected to continue, with importers making efforts to remain in business through competitive pricing. Many had previously complained of recording losses when the 650,000-barrels-per-day capacity Dangote refinery began implementing constant price cuts earlier this year. The current price war is likely to benefit consumers, who will enjoy lower fuel prices in the coming days.
