The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced a new petrol pump price of N739 per litre, with MRS Oil set to begin sales from Tuesday, while other partner filling stations are expected to follow, PUNCH reported.
The announcement comes two days after the refinery reduced its gantry price for petrol from N828 to N699 per litre. Speaking at a press briefing at the Lekki refinery on Sunday, President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said he was aware that some filling stations often keep pump prices high despite reductions at the gantry level, accusing certain officials of encouraging marketers to frustrate the price drop.
“I was told that the marketers have met with (some officials) and were told to make sure that the price is maintained high. But this price we are going to introduce, we are going to start with MRS stations most likely on Tuesday in Lagos; that N970 per litre, you won’t see it again,” he said.
He added that members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and other marketers were free to buy directly from the refinery at N699 per litre. “We have also asked members of IPMAN to come now. We have asked anybody who can buy 10 trucks to come and buy 10 trucks at N699,” he stated.
Dangote said the company would deploy all available resources to enforce the new price regime nationwide within a week to 10 days.
“We are going to use whatever resources that we have to make sure that we crash the price down… For this December and January, we don’t want people to sell petrol for more than N740 nationwide,” he said, adding that efforts would be made to resist any attempt to sabotage the price reduction.
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He questioned why pump prices should approach N900 per litre when transporting petrol from the refinery costs no more than N15 per litre. “Freight within Lagos is N10 or N15, maximum.
So if it’s N10 to N15, everything is going to cost you N715. Why do you want to sell at N900? People should get the real price,” he said, noting that the refinery was not making profits at the current price level.
Dangote also accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) of issuing 47 import licences for about 7.5 billion litres of petrol for the first quarter of 2026, despite assurances that local refineries could meet supply needs.
He said the move was hurting domestic investments and pushing modular refineries toward collapse. “Those modular refineries… are almost on the verge of collapse. None of them is making a dime,” he said.
Responding to claims of monopoly, Dangote said, “If you are talking about monopoly, did we stop anybody? They issued 47 licences. Let those people come and put up a refinery here, or let them go and buy even NNPC’s and operate them.”
Reaffirming the new price, he said, “Starting from Tuesday, MRS will start selling petrol at N739/litre. Definitely, we will enforce that low price… We are selling at N699. The N699 includes the percentage of NMDPRA. So what actually comes out to us is about N389 or so.”
When contacted for a reaction, NMDPRA spokesman George Ene-Ita said, “For now, no comment.”
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Image Credit: MSME Africa
