THE Dangote Refinery has described the claim that it sold Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol, to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), at N898 per litre as “misleading and mischievous.”

On Sunday, September 14, the NNPCL started the loading of petrol from the Dangote refinery as the sole off-taker.

The Dangote Group’s chief branding and communications officer, Anthony Chiejina, in a statement on Sunday, faulted the media claim.

He said, “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.”

He urged Nigerians to disregard the malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee of Naira-based crude sales to local refineries.

He noted that the sale of crude oil to the Dangote refinery on a naira-base arrangement would commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that the refinery’s current crude stock 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.

“We assure Nigerians of availability of quality petroleum product and putting an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country,” Chiejina added.

In the wake of the accusations and counter-accusations over the sale of crude oil to the Dangote refinery and the pricing of refined petrol from the refinery, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu appointed the technical committee headed by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun.

On Friday, September 13, the committee finalised the agreement and modalities for the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote refinery and other local refineries in Naira, with the formal as the sole off-taker of refined petrol from Dangote refinery.

The committee said the NNPCL would from October 1 commence the supply of about 385 barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery to be paid for in Naira.

However, the possible market dominance from the committee’s arrangement has not gone down well with oil marketers as it could create a seemingly duopolistic market despite the willing-buyer willing-seller provided in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) under a deregulated market.

The ICIR reported that the marketers wanted the NNPCL to commence publication of a pricing template that would guide them on appropriate pricing.

They also argued that the current pricing by the NNPCL was not yet market-reflective, calling for the publication of a proper template for pricing to ward off possible arbitrage.

The oil marketers further argued that the reality painted a different picture as the NNPCL has sustained a price pegging situation that has worsened competition in the ‘deregulated’ petroleum business with many licensed marketers unable to break even into the market.