National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. James Toll, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Newspaper Pledge on Monday.
Reports are that the price of petrol in Nigeria will soon fall after the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and Dangote Refinery reached an agreement to buy fuel directly from the refinery.
This was disclosed in an interview on Monday by National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. James Toll.
His statement came after National Chairman of IPMAN, Mr. Abubakar Maigandi, on Monday, announced that Dangote Refinery had agreed to sell petrol directly to its members.
The agreement between IPMAN and the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery will end the Nigerian National Oil Company’s intermediary role in the first supply of Dangote petrol on September 16, 2024. According to Newspaper Pledge, the direct selling agreement means petrol retailers have dumped imported fuel in favour of Dangote petrol.
On the impact of the direct purchasing agreement between IPMAN and Dangote Refinery, Toll explained that Nigerians will witness a significant reduction in petrol prices and increased availability of the product across the country.
According to him, the agreement will see the price of petrol dispensed at the pump at independent dealers’ retail outlets reduced to below N1,150 per litre.
“Once the commercial agreement comes into effect, we will see a significant reduction in petrol prices.
“For obvious reasons, this will lead to easier availability of the product, which will drive up the price factor. The company is a major shareholder with petrol stations across the country.
Told by Newspaper Pledge that “depending on Dangote Refinery’s will, the price of petrol at petrol stations will be well below the N1,150 retail price.”
Dangote Group spokesperson Anthony Chiejina confirmed that IPMAN and Dangote Refinery have agreed to sell PMS directly.
Recall that in recent weeks, oil traders had been seeking to partner with Dangote Refinery for the direct sale of PMS.
This comes after the Nigerian government announced that NNPCL will no longer be the sole buyer of Dangote petrol as part of the implementation of the crude oil trading naira. On October 11, 2024, the Naira Crude Oil Implementation Committee led by the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, allowed petrol dealers to sell Dangote petrol.
Meanwhile, the recent agreement between IPMAN and Dangote Refinery on direct sale of petrol has ended a dispute between oil traders and Dangote Refinery over fuel prices in the past few days.
Dangote Refinery last week announced that it would sell petrol for ships and trucks at a price of N960 to N990 per litre.
IPMAN had previously maintained that imported fuel was cheaper than Dangote’s petrol.
Newspaper Pledge reports that the landed cost of petrol has fallen to N971 per litre in November 2024, according to a leading energy market association. Despite this, Nigerians buy petrol for between N1,060 and N1,200 at filling stations across the country.
However, with a direct PMS sales agreement between IPMAN and Dangote Refinery, Nigerians may buy the product for less than N1,060 per litre.
Meanwhile, Newspaper Pledge reports that details of the petrol price agreed between IPMAN and Dangote Refinery will determine the price of the product within days.
Recall that in the past two months, the price of petrol has doubled from N617 per litre in August 2024 to N1,060 to N1,200 per litre.
The rising cost of energy has directly impacted Nigeria’s inflation rate, which stood at 32.70% in September 2024.