THE controversy over pricing and opaqueness, especially the actual price of petrol, rages in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has insisted that there were documents that Dangote Refinery petrol was sold to it at N898 per litre.
NNPCL’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, stated this following Dangote Group’s statement, issued by its spokesperson, Anthony Chiejina, on Sunday, September 15, disputing NNPCL’s position.
In a reaction to Dangote Refinery’s statement, Soneye, on Monday, September 16, said: “We stand by our earlier stand that Dangote Refinery petrol is sold to us at N898 per litre.
“We have documents to back this point.”
The controversy comes after Dangote Refinery started loading its petrol on Sunday.
NNPCL had on Sunday confirmed that 70 trucks belonging to it were loaded with petrol at Dangote Refinery at N898 per litre for delivery to its retail stations nationwide.
The cost, according to Soneye, was based on September 2024 pricing, despite the denial by Dangote Refinery, which commenced the first loading of petrol at its facility in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State on Sunday.
The refinery had on Sunday described the NNPCL position as “misleading and mischievous,” and aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded by the refinery in addressing Nigeria’s energy insufficiency.
Chiejina had in a statement urged Nigerians to disregard NNPCL statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing by the Technical Sub-committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries on October 1.
He stated: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL.
“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.
“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in Dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing.
“With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country, regardless of their remote nature.
“We assure Nigerians of availability of quality petroleum product and putting an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country.”
But he failed to tell Nigerians the price at which the refinery sold its petrol to the NNPCL, saying its current stock of crude was procured in US Dollars and sold to the NNPCL in Dollars, with a lot of savings against current imports.
However, Soneye said in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), petrol prices were not set by government, but negotiated directly between parties on an arms length.
He stated further: “The NNPCL can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in United States Dollars (USD) for September 2024 PMS off-take, as Naira transactions will only commence on October 1, 2024.
“The NNPCL assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100 per cent to the general public.
“Attached to this statement are the estimated pump prices of PMS obtained from the Dangote Refinery across NNPCL retail stations in the country, based on September 2024 pricing.”
Based on the estimated petrol pump prices document, N950.22 is showed as the estimated pump price in Lagos for product sources from the Dangote Refinery, indicating that the prices will be higher in other state after the addition of cost of haulage and other logistics.
The estimated price document also showed that the NNPCL paid the refinery N898.78 per litre for petrol, while the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) fee is N8.99, and inspection fee is N0.97.
It also showed that distribution cost (Lagos) is N15, while ‘margin’ is N26.48.
