Africa’s richest person, Aliko Dangote yesterday released official samples of petrol from his refinery, assuring that the local sale of the fuel will help stablise the naira by helping to correct distortions in the value of the local currency compared with the dollar.
Describing the development as historic, Dangote said the refinery located in Lagos will assist in knowing the true consumption of petrol in Nigeria since every loaded truck can be tracked.
Dangote, who spoke during a live programme relayed on Arise Television, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, lauded President Bola Tinubu for all the support to ensure the dream became a reality.
The 650, 000 barrels per day facility is expected to serve the entire Nigerian market as well as export to the West African Sub-region as well as the global market eventually.
In about the last 28 years, Nigeria has not produced Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol after its four official refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna broke down.
Several governments in the past have spent billions of dollars on turnaround maintenance for the refineries but without results. Nigeria spends over $10 billion annually on the importation of petrol for its over 200 million citizens.
Underscoring the importance of the event, Dangote during an interview, stated that since 1974, Nigeria has had fuel scarcity in various degrees, but said that that was about to become a thing of the past.
“It’s a very historic, monumental achievement, which I think I must congratulate the people of Nigeria and the government of President Bola Tinubu for giving us all the support to be where we are today. In the last 28 years we haven’t really had this sort of achievement.
“You can see that even there are some videos of 1974, where we had fuel queues, and those fuel queues are still here. This will eliminate all fuel queues in Nigeria. This will improve the health of everybody. This will also make sure that there is consistent supply to the market. It will also bring the real demand of PMS.
“ There will be no paper transaction. It will also help to make sure that, you know, it corrects this distortion of the Naira, bring stability to the Naira, bring growth, development and prosperity,” Dangote stated.
Dangote also took time to display samples of petrol and diesel from the new refinery, stressing that it is the first in the country to produce Euro 5 fuels of less than 10ppm, which contain lower sulphur and prolong engine life.
The billionaire businessman stressed that what this means is that it will help the vehicle engines last longer, while the health of people and that of the environment will not be polluted.
“ This is the real thing, Euro 5 diesel, for the first time in the history of Nigeria. We are actually testing for all parameters. Our lab actually is not number two, it’s number one in the world,” he added.
According to Dangote, the imminent release of the product into the Nigerian market will not only ensure stability of the naira, but help to minimise round-tripping.
“This will give a lot of stability for the Naira, where now you remove 40 per cent of the demand for dollars in the market, and that will actually stabilise the market. But that’s not it. As you know, there’s quite a lot of what you call round-tripping, where people now do documentation and the fuel does not come into Nigeria, and this is a fact.
So right now, as we have this refinery working, it will show the true consumption of Nigeria. We can track every single loaded trucks, and we will try as much as possible to track the loaded ships. Trucks, we can tell you where they are.
“Just like now, in some of the projects that we do, we can tell you exactly the consumption pattern. But that is a discussion for another day. Today’s discussion is just to celebrate and to thank God Almighty for bringing us to this stage of now producing gasoline.
“And I know that a lot of people have not actually believed that we’ll be able to deliver, but we’ve been able to deliver,” he added.
Price of Petrol to be Set after Agreement with FG
Dangote said the price of petrol coming out of his 650,000 barrels per day refinery will be determined through an agreement between his company and the federal government.
The richest man in Africa stated this yesterday at the refinery complex in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, where he unveiled a sample of the first refined petrol from the $20 billion facility. .
He said the pricing arrangement was being designed by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) led by President Bola Tinubu, adding that the company was ready to roll out products into the market as soon as that arrangement was finalised.
Dangote stated: “Our petrol can be in filling stations within the next 48 hours depending on NNPC and that the pricing of the petrol would be based on an agreement with the federal government.
“It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu. As soon as it is finalised, which he (Tinubu) is pushing, once we finish with NNPC, it can be today, it can be tomorrow, we are ready to roll into the market.
”Nigerians would have good petrol while the engines of your vehicles will last longer. You will not be having an engine issue, which a lot of us were having. It won’t happen at all.”
He further emphasised that the quality of petroleum products from his refinery will match that of any refinery in the world, and the United States of America (USA).
NMDPRA: Initial 25m Litres Set for Release in September
Also yesterday, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the refinery will release an initial 25 million litres into the market this month.
In a message on its X handle, the organisation added that refining will be further ramped up in October to 30 million litres, explaining that it met with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to agree on local crude supply to the Lagos-based refinery.
“At the NMDPRA headquarters in Abuja, NNPC reached an agreement to commence crude oil sale and supply to Dangote Refinery in local currency.
“The refinery is now poised to supply an initial 25 million litres of PMS into the domestic market this September. And will subsequently increase this amount to 30 million litres daily from October 2024,” the NMDPRA said.
NNPC Raises Petrol Price to N897 Per Litre, Filling Stations Sell for N950
In a move that could further compound the hardship faced by Nigerians, the NNPC yesterday raised the pump price of petrol to N897 per litre from the official price of N617.
This is coming days after the national oil company said it was heavily constrained by the huge debt it owes international suppliers. The debt is estimated to be $6.8 billion.
THISDAY observed that many NNPC filling stations in Abuja had already effected the prices, with its downstream facilities selling for N897. Eterna in Wuse 2 was dispensing at N930 per litre with extended queues.
Total Energies in zone 3 were not selling, while Conoil was selling for N940 and NIPCO was dispensing for N955 when THISDAY visited .
In Port Harcourt, the product was selling for between N950 & N1,500, although many of the filling stations were not dispensing, while in Owerri, Imo State , marketers were deployed for between N990 and N1,000.
NNPC was selling for N897 in Maiduguri while other filling stations sold for between N1000 to N1,500. In Anambra, the prices ranged from between N960 and N980, while in Yola, it was retailing for N970 per litre.
In Jalingo, Taraba State, fuel was sold for N980 per litre, while in Ibadan,Oyo State, the few stations that were open sold for between N1000 and N1200
A separate signal to depot owners sighted by THISDAY confirmed the increase.
“This is to inform you that NNPC Retail Management has approved upward review of PMS pump price from N617/litre to N897/litre effective today, 3rd September, 2024.
“Please ensure all your pumps and totems (price boards)/MIDs reflect the new PMS price of N897/litre,” the message said.
Lokpobiri Denies Ordering Sale of Petrol at N1,000
The Minister of State, Petroleum (Oil) has also refuted information circulated on social media, which claimed that he directed the NNPC to inflate petroleum prices to N1,000 above the approved pump price.
“We categorically condemn these claims as baseless, malicious, and a deliberate attempt to incite public discontent. We challenge anyone in possession of any evidence-be it written documents, audio, or video recordings that support these fabrications to make it public. Such a claim is entirely devoid of truth and should be recognized as an intentional effort to mislead the public.
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