The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has announced the estimated pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) above N1,000 after its initial purchase of the Dangote refinery product.
NNPCL’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, in a statement early on Monday, said that the new pump price is based on Dangote’s September 2024 PMS pricing and will be sold for N1,019 in Borno State.
As seen by our correspondent, the product will be sold at N950.22 in Lagos, while customers in Oyo will pay N960.22 for petrol at its petrol stations in the state.
Meanwhile, the estimated price for the product in Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano States and the FCT is N999.22, while Oyo and Rivers residents will buy petrol at NNPC fuel stations at N960.22 and N980.22, respectively.
Soneye clarified that the pricing is determined through direct negotiation between involved parties, adhering to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) from the Dangote.
He also confirmed that the NNPCL paid Dangote in dollars after initially stating that the product was bought in naira, a statement debunked by Dangote.
Soneye said, “The NNPC Ltd also wishes to state that, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), PMS prices are not set by the Government but negotiated directly between parties at an arm’s length.
“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.
“Attached to this statement are the estimated pump prices of PMS (obtained from the Dangote Refinery) across NNPC Retail Stations in the country, based on September 2024 pricing”, the statement said.
The new pump price announcement comes hours after differing comments from the NNPCL and Dangote over the selling price of fuel from the refinery as NNPC officially commenced loading PMS from the 650,000 barrels per day capacity on Sunday, September 15, 2024, after months of delay.
Soneye in a chat with The Punch said that the NNPCL loaded over 70 trucks of the product from Dangote at N898/litre.
“We successfully loaded PMS today (Sunday) at the Dangote refinery. The report stating that we (NNPC) purchased it at N1,300/litre is false. For this initial loading, the price was N898/litre. I can also confirm that we will receive 16.8 million litres. As of now, we have loaded over 70 trucks,” he said.
However, in a rebuttal issued on Sunday, Dangote’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, denied selling fuel to NNPCL at N898/litre, adding that NNPCL bought the product in dollars and not naira as claimed.
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPC spokesperson, Mr Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898/litre to the NNPC.
“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 bedevilled 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 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,” he said.
