Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The management of Dangote Refinery Limited and that of NNPC Limited have again clashed over the offtake price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, commonly known as petrol.
Recall that in the last few months, NNPC Limited and Dangote Group have been at loggerheads over many issues ranging from fuel quality, fuel importation, crude supply, licensing, product off-taking, and now product pricing.
While NNPC Ltd has announced that it was buying the product from Dangote at N898 per litre, Dangote has denied selling the product at that amount to NNPC Ltd.
Dangote through its Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, dismissed a statement attributed to NNPC Limited’s Spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, claiming that they sold PMS at N898 per litre.
Although Dangote did not disclose the price of its PMS, Chiejina who described the claim as “misleading and mischievous” emphasized that the statement aimed to undermine the progress made in addressing Nigeria’s energy insufficiency and insecurity.
Dangote urged Nigerians to disregard the statement and await an official announcement from the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, noting Naira-based price template will commence operations on October 1, 2024.
Chiejina clarified that the current stock of crude was procured in dollars, disclosing that the company sold products to NNPCL in dollars, resulting in significant savings compared to current import costs.
“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 His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, 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,” Dangote said.
But in a swift reaction, NNPC Ltd insisted that they were buying the product from Dangote at N898 per litre, and also released estimated pump prices of PMS obtained from Dangote Refinery, citing arms-length negotiation in line with the Petroleum Industry Act.
Chief Corporate Communications Officer at NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye, urged Dangote to give them a discount if they were disputing the N898 per litre pricing.
“The NNPC Ltd can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as Naira transactions will only commence on October 1st, 2024.
“The NNPC Ltd 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% to the general public.”
