NNPC Yet To Lift Our Petrol, Negotiations Still Ongoing – Dangote

Joy ChukwuSeptember 5, 20241 Mins read353

Dangote Group has clarified media reports that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) is lifting petrol from its refinery at N897 per litre.

A statement on Thursday by the Group’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, said that the company’s attention has been drawn to a headline, ‘NNPC lifts Dangote Petrol, sells at N897 per litre’, published in the BusinessDay Newspaper on Wednesday.

In response, Chiejina clarified the company can not fix the price of petrol as it has yet to finalise its arrangement with the NNPC.

“We would like to state that NNPC has not commenced lifting of refined Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, from our Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

“Therefore, the issue of fixing the price of petrol lifted from our refinery does not arise, as we are yet to finalise our contract with NNPC.”

The statement further explained that the PMS market is strictly regulated; thus, the company cannot determine, fix, or influence the product price, as the decision falls under the purview of relevant government authorities.

This comes after the Group’s head, Aliko Dangote, formally unveiled its refined petrol on Tuesday, announcing that the product will be available in the markets as soon as the Federal Executive Council finalises pricing.

“It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As soon as it is finalised, which he (Tinubu) is pushing, once we finish with NNPC, it can be today, it can be tomorrow, we are ready to roll into the market,” he said.

Shortly after Dangote’s comments, the NNPC raised its pump price to N897 per litre, just days after the company reported being burdened with over $6 billion in debt due to rising petrol supply costs.