THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has insisted that it purchase Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol, at a pump price of N898 per litre from the Dangote Refinery, countering an earlier statement by the latter.
The rebuttal was contained in a statement on Monday by the NNPCL’s chief corporate communications officer, Olufemi Soneye, on Monday, September 16.
It showed a detailed estimated pump price of PMS from Dangote Refinery, based on September 2024 Pricing.
“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 Government, but negotiated directly between parties on an arms 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,” Soneye stated.
According to him, the NNPCL 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 per cent 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 NNPCL added.
A cursory look at the NNPCL detailed estimate shows that Dangote refinery PMS gantry pricing arrived at N898.78.
A breakdown revealed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) fee at N8.99, inspection fee at 0.97 kobo, distribution cost (Lagos) at N15 and margin at N26.48, which brings the total cost to N950.22 estimated pump price in Lagos.
The pump price of petrol will be sold a varying prices across the states, the NNPCL stated, further revealing that it will be sold at N1,019.22 in Borno, N999.22 in Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto and Abuja, N960.22 in Oyo and N980.22 in Imo and Rivers.
In a statement issued on Sunday by the Dangote Group, the chief branding and communications officer, Anthony Chiejina, faulted media reports that the NNPCL bought petrol at N898 price per litre from the refinery.
His words, “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 bedevilled the economy in the past 50 years.”
Chiejina described Soneye’s statement as malicious, urging Nigerians to discard it and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the technical sub-committee which mediated in the arrangement of a naira-based crude sales to local refineries.
“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,” he added.
The ICIR reports that the NNPCL started the loading of petrol from the Dangote refinery on Sunday after deploying over 100 trucks on Saturday to the refinery.