The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has resumed the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, in naira, ending its brief switch to dollar-denominated transactions. However, the refinery has increased its ex-depot price by ₦140 per litre.
The development comes just one week after the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery suspended petrol truck loading and introduced dollar pricing, a move that disrupted the downstream petroleum market, tightened supply, and drove up depot prices.
In a notice issued by its commercial department on Wednesday, the refinery informed marketers that the new gantry price of petrol had increased from ₦1,075 per litre to ₦1,215 per litre, representing a 13.02 percent rise. The coastal loading price was also revised upward from ₦1,441,575 per metric tonne to ₦1,602,495 per metric tonne.
The notice stated that the revised pricing took immediate effect and that all unloaded gantry volumes would be repriced accordingly. Marketers were also encouraged to proceed with placing new orders.
Industry platform Petroleumprice.ng confirmed the return to naira transactions, with its Chief Executive Officer, Jeremiah Olatide, noting that customers had already been notified of the refinery’s decision to resume gantry operations under the revised pricing structure.
The refinery had suspended both gantry and coastal loading on July 15 after introducing dollar-denominated pricing for refined petroleum products. The move forced marketers to rely on private depots, where petrol prices surged from about ₦1,075 per litre to approximately ₦1,275 per litre due to limited supply.
Independent marketers also suspended purchases from the refinery, citing the difficulty of sourcing the foreign exchange required for dollar transactions. Industry stakeholders warned that the policy would increase pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange market, weaken the naira, and ultimately push up fuel prices nationwide.
With Nigeria consuming an estimated 50 million litres of petrol daily, marketers were projected to require about $40 million every day, or more than $14 billion annually, to sustain purchases under the dollar-payment system.
Dangote Refinery defended the temporary policy, explaining that it was no longer receiving sufficient crude oil through the Federal Government’s naira-for-crude arrangement and had to source additional crude from the international market using dollars.
Under the suspended pricing model, petrol sold for $0.779 per litre, diesel for $1.087 per litre, and Jet A1 aviation fuel for $0.942 per litre. A senior regulatory official maintained that the refinery’s decision did not violate the Petroleum Industry Act, describing it as a cost-recovery measure driven by the refinery’s increasing dollar-denominated expenses.
Following concerns raised by petroleum marketers over the impact on fuel supply and foreign exchange demand, the Federal Government intervened, and discussions with the Dangote Group on the naira-for-crude arrangement are ongoing.
Although the refinery has now returned to naira sales, its new ex-depot price of ₦1,215 per litre remains significantly higher than the previous rate, even though it is still below the ₦1,275 per litre offered by some fuel importers. Petroleumprice.ng also confirmed that dollar sales have been suspended for the time being.
Industry analysts believe the return to naira transactions will help restore normal fuel distribution and ease supply bottlenecks experienced during the week-long disruption. However, they caution that the higher wholesale price could lead to further increases in retail pump prices unless offset by stronger market competition or a decline in international crude oil prices.
Meanwhile, petrol prices in Lagos and several other parts of the country reportedly climbed to around ₦1,300 per litre on Wednesday as global oil prices hovered near $94 per barrel amid renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
