A senior management official of the Dangote Group on Monday revealed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has been subsidising the petrol and diesel it supplies to the Nigerian market.
According to the official, who spoke to The PUNCH in confidence due to the lack of authorisation to speak, the company’s N1,200 per litre ex-depot price for petrol is below the prevailing competitive market rate, especially in light of the surge in crude oil prices triggered by the US-Iran conflict.
The war in the Middle East led to a sharp increase in oil prices following the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose from $66 per barrel on February 28 to above $100 per barrel.
As a result of the spike in crude prices, Dangote adjusted its petrol gantry price from N774 to N1,200 as of the time of filing this report, while diesel and aviation fuel prices were also affected.
In the aviation sector, airlines are considering shutting down operations following a rise of over 350 per cent in the price of Jet A-1 fuel. The Dangote refinery currently supplies more than 90 per cent of Nigeria’s aviation fuel requirements.
The Vice President of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, Allen Onyema, recently disclosed that prices increased sharply from about N900 per litre before the Iran crisis to between N2,700 and N2,900, with some marketers selling as high as N3,500 per litre.
Speaking further, the refinery official explained that the $20bn facility has made efforts to optimise the prices of petrol and diesel but cannot extend the same approach to aviation fuel.
He stated that jet fuel is therefore sold strictly at market price levels.
The official attributed the rise in fuel prices to the escalating cost of crude oil. “With the crude price moving up steeply, we try to optimise the price of PMS (petrol) as much as possible to help the public. To some extent, we try to optimise the price of AGO (diesel) too. We can’t be subsidising everything, and so, we sell the jet fuel at the market price,” the source stated.
When asked to clarify whether “optimise” implied subsidy, the official responded in the affirmative.
Another Dangote Group official disclosed that the refinery sells aviation fuel to marketers at below N2,000 per litre.
“I can confirm to you that our jet fuel price as of this (Monday) morning is N1,799. It was even lower before this time. That’s how much we sell to the marketers who later sell to the airlines. We are selling at less than N2,000 a litre,” the source disclosed.
Last week, a report by the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria placed Dangote’s jet fuel gantry price at N1,732 per litre, compared to N1,835 per litre for imported aviation fuel.
The PUNCH reported that fuel marketers have remained silent despite repeated attempts to get them to disclose the exact prices at which they sell aviation fuel to airlines.
Earlier, in a letter dated April 14, 2026, addressed to the Executive Secretary of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, the President of AON, Abdulmunaf Sarina, warned that the rising cost of Jet A-1 had become unbearable for airline operators.
The PUNCH reports that the AON stated in its letter, “the price of Jet A1 as sold by marketers has risen significantly from the initial N900/litre as at February 28, 2026, to N3,300/litre as of today.
“This represents an increase of over 300 per cent. This astronomical and artificial increase is not commensurate with the rise in crude oil prices and is well above international market benchmarks, which reflect approximately a 30 per cent increase in crude oil cost. For the past weeks, airlines have endured this burden and continued operations out of patriotism and in the spirit of service to the nation. However, the situation has now become unbearable and clearly unsustainable,” the letter stated.
The association urged MEMAN to prevail on its members to adjust jet fuel prices in line with global market realities, stating that airlines can no longer cope with the current high costs, “as airlines can no longer sustain purchases at the current exorbitant rates”.
In its response, MEMAN attributed the rising cost of aviation turbine kerosene to global factors, particularly disruptions caused by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The marketers also expressed surprise at the N3,300 per litre figure cited by airline operators, noting that their internal market survey indicated significantly lower prices. They declined to disclose a specific price but maintained that N3,300 per litre was more than N1,000 above their average findings.
”In light of the above, we must express our surprise at the price of N3,300 per litre stated in your letter as the price being charged to some airline operators. MEMAN members do not discuss pricing, as this will be against competition law; however, the price of N3,300 is over N1,000 higher than our average market survey price of Jet A1 carried out for this exercise, after receipt of your letter,” MEMAN explained.
The association advised airline operators to explore alternative suppliers offering more competitive pricing, stating, “We would therefore strongly encourage any operators currently being charged at those levels to exercise their commercial right to seek alternative suppliers.”
Since April 16, the situation has remained unchanged, with airlines continuing to threaten a shutdown of operations due to the persistent rise in fuel costs.
