The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has resumed the sale of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, in naira, ending its brief dollar-denominated pricing regime, while increasing its ex-depot price by N140 per litre.
The latest development comes one week after the 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery suspended truck loading of petrol and switched to dollar pricing, a decision that unsettled the downstream petroleum market, constrained supplies and triggered a sharp increase in depot prices.
The resumption of naira transactions was communicated to marketers in a notice issued by the refinery’s commercial department on Wednesday and was independently confirmed by industry platform Petroleumprice.ng.
The notice showed that the gantry price of petrol increased from N1,075 per litre to N1,215 per litre, representing an increase of N140, or 13.02 per cent. The coastal loading price also rose from N1,441,575 per metric tonne to N1,602,495 per metric tonne.
The communication, titled PMS Price Change Communication, stated that the revised prices took immediate effect.
It read, “Please be advised that all unloaded gantry volumes will be subject to repricing at the new price, which is effective 22nd July 2026.
Kindly proceed with placing your order.
Should you require any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
The notice signals the refinery’s return to naira-denominated domestic petrol sales after its brief migration to a dollar pricing regime that sparked concerns among marketers and consumers.
Petroleumprice.ng also confirmed that customers had been notified of the resumption of gantry operations under the revised naira pricing template. “Yes, the refinery has returned to pricing its product in naira,” the Chief Executive Officer of Petroleumprice.ng, Jeremiah Olatide, said.
The refinery had suspended both gantry and coastal loading on July 15 while introducing dollar-denominated pricing for refined petroleum products, forcing marketers to source products from private depots where prices rose sharply as available volumes tightened.
During the suspension, the average ex-depot price of petrol at private depots reportedly climbed from about N1,075 per litre to approximately N1,275 per litre, representing an increase of N200, or about 18.6 per cent.
The development also prompted independent marketers to suspend petrol loading from the refinery, saying they could not source the foreign exchange required for transactions.
Industry operators warned that the policy would significantly increase demand for foreign exchange, weaken the naira and push up petrol prices nationwide.
Based on Nigeria’s estimated daily petrol consumption of about 50 million litres, marketers were projected to require about $40m daily, translating to more than $14bn annually, to sustain purchases from the refinery under the dollar payment regime.
The refinery had defended its temporary migration to dollar pricing, explaining that it was no longer receiving adequate crude oil under the Federal Government’s naira-for-crude initiative and had to source additional crude from the international market in dollars.
Under the suspended pricing template, petrol was sold at $0.779 per litre, Automotive Gas Oil at $1.087 per litre, and Jet A1 aviation fuel at $0.942 per litre. A senior regulatory official had told The PUNCH that the refinery had not breached the Petroleum Industry Act by selling its products in dollars.
The official said, “It’s a pretty straightforward issue. The naira-for-crude deal is not to Dangote’s advantage right now because the company is sourcing crude in dollars. He has absorbed a lot. But maybe he has got to a breaking point. So he has to do stuff to recover costs. And that’s why he wants to share that burden with off-takers.”
The Federal Government subsequently intervened following concerns raised by petroleum marketers over the implications of the policy for fuel supply and foreign exchange demand.
The refinery’s latest notice confirms that local transactions have reverted to naira, although the new ex-depot price of N1,215 per litre remains below the N1,275 offered by fuel importers. Petroleumprice.ng confirmed that the refinery has suspended dollar sales for now.
Meanwhile, discussions between the Dangote Group and the Federal Government over issues relating to the naira-for-crude arrangement are ongoing. Market operators said the return to naira transactions is expected to restore normal product evacuation and ease distribution bottlenecks that emerged during the week-long suspension.
However, they noted that the higher ex-depot price could trigger further increases in depot and retail pump prices unless market competition or lower international crude prices moderate the impact.
Meanwhile, petrol prices rose to about N1,300 per litre in Lagos and other parts of the country on Wednesday as oil prices hovered around $94 per barrel amid renewed tension in the Middle East.
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