Marketers lamented to Tinubu that our Diesel is cheap – Dangote Refinery

Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, revealed that petroleum product marketers in Nigeria have complained to President Bola Tinubu about Dangote’s competitive pricing of diesel, which has been reduced to N900 per litre.

Speaking during a Twitter Spaces session organized by Nairametrics, Edwin noted that the price had been progressively reduced from N1,200 to N1,000, and now to N900, which has impacted the revenue margins of the marketers.

Despite the price cuts, the refinery has been struggling to sell around 29 tankers of diesel per day due to low patronage from marketers, raising concerns over the industry’s pricing dynamics.

He said: “Petroleum product marketers in Nigeria have written to President Bola Tinubu to complain that the refinery local prices which have dropped from N1,200 to N1,000 and now N900 per litre are impacting their businesses negatively.”

Edwin highlighted some challenges facing the Dangote Refinery while stressing its impact on Nigeria’s fuel supply and prices.

According to him, the refinery, located in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos struggles to sell about 29 tankers of diesel daily because of low patronage from local petroleum product importers.

He said: “As a result of this poor local patronage, the refinery exports most of its diesel and aviation fuel.

“We have been exporting aviation fuel, we have been producing kerosene, we have been producing diesel, but yesterday, we started the production of PMS. So, that was the last stage. The only thing now left out is petrochemicals.

“So, the good news for the country is we have started producing PMS from our refinery,” he had said on a radio programme.”

He also said: “But if the traders or NNPC are not buying the product we will end up exporting the PMS as we are doing with the aviation jet and diesel.

“The philosophy is to take the crude, and instead of exporting the crude, refine it, add value; export the finished products, and supply the finished products locally. But unfortunately for us, we started facing challenges with the crude supply.

“What is happening today? We are struggling to get the crude. We are now importing the crude from the US, we are importing from Brazil, and from other parts of the world. So, the whole philosophy has gone upside down. After all these decades, we are exporting crude, importing products.”

he added: “The same thing is continuing. We are not getting enough crude allocation, and the crude is still being exported. We are forced to import crude from outside. Yes, we are getting some crude locally, but it’s not adequate.”