After Naira-For-Crude Deal Renewal, Dangote Slashes Petrol Price To N865/litre
Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals yesterday slashed the ex-gantry price of its premium motor spirit (PMS) (petrol) from N880 to NN865 per litre.
The reduction, The Nation gathered, was a fallout of a meeting between the firm’s officials and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, on Tuesday.
The government maintained that the naira-for-crude remains a “key policy directive designed to support sustainable local refining” and not a temporary measure.
National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi, hailed the price slash.
He said: “Well, we just finished our NEC meeting. By tomorrow (today), we will determine what price to sell.
“We have to also calculate freight rate and other cost before we come to a price.
“Certainly, you will see the effect of the Dangote Refinery price slash at the pumps of our members soon.
“We are happy with the development and since the government has assured now that the naira-for-crude policy is a key policy directive, we hope it will not be truncated again so that Nigerians can continue to enjoy favourable petrol prices,” Maigandi said.
Petrol retail outlets like MRS Oil & Gas, Ardova Plc and Heyden are expected to reduce their pump price from N925 to N910 or N915 per litre to reflect the reduction in the ex-depot price.
Chief Executive Officer of the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the price slash by Dangote was one of the gains of deregulation.
He said: “The continued price cut can be sustained as far as the fundamentals of the market can sustain it.
“The cut we are experiencing is a function of foreign exchange, international crude oil price.
“If these two factors are stable, then the price reduction can be sustained.”
President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harris, hailed the price slash by Dangote refinery as a welcome development as long as it is in sync with “economic” factors.
“Price rise or fall is good as long as it is based on entrepreneurial factors and not on an artificial basis.
“Pricing should be driven by economic factors. For now, it is being influenced by lower crude oil prices being experienced globally,” Gillis-Harris said.
According to him, sudden changes to petrol prices hurt marketers who might have stocked up.
“Some marketers bought the product on Wednesday at a high price and the next day the price is slashed. So, who will bear the loss? Why the sudden pricing changes?”
