The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has said Dangote Refinerry is free to sell its petroleum products at lower prices directly to any marketer in Nigeria.
The company revealed this in a statement signed by its spokesperson Olufemi Soneye on Saturday.
The NNPC was reacting to a press release by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) which accused it of increasing fuel price to prevent Dangote Refinery from offering lower
prices and becoming the sole offtaker of all products from the refinery.
The NNPC denied all this allegations, saying that, “The pricing of petroleum products from any refinery, including the Dangote Refinery Ltd (DRL), is determined by global market forces.
“The recent changes in PMS prices have no impact on the DRL or any other domestic refinery’s access to the Nigerian market. In fact, if current prices are perceived as high, it presents an ideal opportunity for the refinery to sell its products at lower prices in the Nigerian market.
“Furthermore, we emphasize that there is no guarantee of lower prices associated with domestic refining compared to any global parity pricing framework, as confirmed by the DRL. The NNPC Ltd will only fully offtake PMS from the DRL if the market prices of PMS are higher than the pump prices in Nigeria. The DRL and any other domestic refinery are free to sell directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, which is the current practice for all fully deregulated products. NNPC Ltd has no desire or intention to become the distributor for any entity in a free market environment, and therefore, the notion of becoming a sole offtaker does not arise.
“The NNPC Ltd cannot undermine a business in which it holds a
billion dollar stake.
“As an advocacy group for fair and just treatment, MURIC should
have verified the facts before making statements that are entirely
flawed and has the potential to incite ordinary Nigerians against the
NNPC Ltd.”
