The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has credited the recent drop in petrol prices to heightened competition between Nigeria’s two leading refineries — Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited.
Market checks revealed a significant reduction in pump prices across major retail outlets in response to lower ex-depot prices from the Dangote Refinery and the Port Harcourt Refinery.
NNPC Retail reduced its pump price from ₦1,030 to ₦965 per litre, while AA Rano and AYM Sharfa brought their prices down from ₦1,070 to ₦1,020 per litre.
Despite these adjustments, some retailers have maintained higher prices. Notably, Conoil outlets still sell petrol at ₦1,090 per litre, unchanged from November.
In an interview with Vanguard, IPMAN’s Public Relations Officer, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, highlighted the positive impact of competition between local refineries on price stability and availability.
He said, “It is a good development for independent marketers and for consumers too. Now, because of increased demand, price normally goes up during this period but right now the opposite is the case. ‘’Availability has been taken care of and we are now seeing price war among the gladiators, NNPC and Dangote.
“By next year when the Warri and Kaduna refineries are expected to come onstream, things will even be more interesting.”
Ukadike noted that independent marketers were now able to buy directly from both refineries because “there is a slight increase in turnover. When the price was around ₦1,300/litre most of our members barely sold 5,000 litres daily but we are doing far better than this.
“We are also now able to get products directly. NNPC portal is open now for marketers to take as much product as they want. Dangote has also heeded our call and reduced the volume for bulk purchase eligibility.
“Initially it was limited to 10 million litres but now they sell at two million litres which is about N2 billion. This is more bearable for independent marketers who are now able to come together to place orders for the product.’’
There were indications that the coming on stream of the Port Harcourt Refinery and Dangote Petroleum Refinery would impact Nigeria’s foreign exchange rate in 2025.
The old Port Harcourt refinery and the Dangote Petroleum refinery can process 560,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 60,000 bpd of crude oil, respectively.
Before the two refineries came on stream, Nigeria depended on the international market for its petroleum products.
