Dangote Refinery has clarified that it sold Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in dollars, countering claims about the price per litre.
Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of Dangote, made this known in a statement on Sunday, responding to NNPCL’s earlier claim that it purchased PMS from the refinery at N898 per litre.
Olufemi Soneye, Chief Spokesperson for NNPCL, had earlier told Daily Trust that they successfully loaded PMS from Dangote Refinery, disputing reports that it was sold at N760 per litre. He confirmed the price for the initial batch was N898 per litre, with over 70 trucks loaded at the time of the report.
Earlier, Daily Trust had reported the mobilization of around 300 trucks to the 650,000-barrel-capacity refinery in Lagos, with loading beginning on Sunday.
However, Dangote Refinery refuted this claim in their statement, calling the price disclosure misleading and undermining the progress made on September 15, 2024, in addressing Nigeria’s long-standing energy issues.
They urged the public to disregard the fuel price claim and await a formal announcement from the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, established by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This committee is set to commence its work on October 1, 2024, taking into account that the current stock of crude was acquired in dollars.
The refinery emphasized that its sale to NNPCL was priced in dollars, offering significant savings compared to imported fuel prices. They assured Nigerians of the availability of quality petroleum products, vowing to eliminate the country’s chronic fuel shortages.