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Dangote Refinery Denies Selling Petrol At N898 Per Litre To NNPCL
Dangote Refinery has denied selling petrol at N898 per litre to NNPCL.
Newsone Nigeria reports that Dangote Refinery has denied claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited that it sold petrol at N898 per litre to it.
The Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer at Dangote Refinery, Anthony Chiejina, issued the rebuttal on September 15, 2024.
This online news platform understands that the NNPC began loading PMS from the Dangote Refinery today, Sunday, September 15, 2024, after months of delays due to pricing and other business details from the NNPC, as well as final work on the part of the refinery.
What NNPCL Said
NNPC Corporate Communications Manager, Olufemi Soneye, stated that claims of buying PMS at N1,300 or N760 from Dangote were incorrect and that N898 was the current loading price.
He said, “We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today. The claim that we purchased it at N1,300 per litre or N760 is incorrect. For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per litre. The price is determined by market forces. It’s a deregulated market. I can also confirm, in response to inquiries, that we will receive 16.8 million litres.”
Before operations commenced, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer (CCCO) of NNPC Ltd, Femi Soneye, announced on Saturday that by the end of the day, at least 300 trucks would be positioned at the refinery’s loading gantry, ready for the scheduled petrol loading on Sunday, September 15.
Dangote Refinery response:
In response, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer at Dangote Refinery stated that the claim attributed to “NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to NNPCL” was both misleading and allegedly mischievous.
Chiejina argued that it was deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded on September 15, 2024, in addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has plagued the economy for the past 50 years.
He claimed that the refinery sold the products to NNPCL in dollars, resulting in significant savings compared to what they are currently importing.
“With this action, there will be petrol available in every local government area of the country, regardless of their remote nature. We assure Nigerians of the availability of quality petroleum products and an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country.”
“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,” he stated.