Dangote Refinery has revealed that it sold Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in dollars.
In a statement released on Sunday, Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of Dangote, addressed NNPCL’s claim that it purchased fuel from the refinery at N898 per litre.
Chief Spokesperson for the NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, had stated, “We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today. The claim that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect. For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per liter.”
According to Petroleumprice, the oil company moved about 300 trucks to the 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lagos on Saturday, with loading beginning on Sunday.
However, Dangote Refinery, in its statement, refuted the claim: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL.
“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has plagued the economy for the past 50 years.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on pricing by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR. This will commence on October 1, 2024, keeping in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.
“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars, offering significant savings compared to what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol available in every local government area of the country, regardless of their remote nature.
“We assure Nigerians of the availability of quality petroleum products and the end of endemic fuel scarcity in the country.”