Petrol War: Dangote Refinery Blacklists Six Marketers As Fuel Price Crosses N1,300 Per Litre
Dangote Refinery gantry
Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals is set to restrict the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to major marketers holding valid petrol import licences, in a move that could further reshape Nigeria’s downstream supply market, inside sources have told Petroleumprice.ng.
The development comes as an ongoing rift within the downstream sector continues to push up fuel prices nationwide.
Market survey by our correspondent shows that, in Lagos, PMS now sells for around N1,299 per litre at major regulatory outlets, with independent stations charging higher.
In Abuja and the FCT, prices have climbed to around N1,345 per litre and above, while other states are recording prices ranging between N1,315 and N1,400-plus per litre, depending on local logistics and supply costs.
Dangote’s decision to withhold supply from the listed marketers follows the refinery’s growing concerns over the rising volume of imported petrol entering Nigeria despite increased domestic refining capacity.
According to market data cited by the refinery, imported PMS accounted for about 43 per cent of total petrol supply in July, significantly eroding the domestic market share available to local refiners.
Sources familiar with the refinery’s position said Dangote would prioritise PMS sales to marketers that do not hold petrol import licences, while companies actively importing petrol under the Federal Government’s approved import regime may no longer be supplied by the refinery.
The six marketers licensed by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to import PMS are Matrix Energy, A.A. Rano, AYM Shafa, NIPCO, Pinnacle Oil and Gas, and Bono Energy. The licences, issued in May, covered a combined 720,000 metric tonnes of petrol, with individual allocations ranging from 60,000 to 150,000 tonnes.
Industry sources say the refinery’s position is driven partly by concerns that imported petrol of questionable quality could be blended with locally refined PMS before distribution into the domestic market.
Such blending, the sources said, could make it difficult for consumers and regulators to distinguish between Dangote-produced petrol and imported products, potentially exposing the refinery’s brand to quality-related complaints.
The refinery has also raised concerns over the adequacy of NMDPRA’s quality-control infrastructure for imported PMS. Sources said Dangote believes the absence of a standard laboratory with sufficient capacity to independently verify imported petrol could leave room for substandard products to enter the market.
The latest position marks a significant escalation in the refinery’s long-running dispute over petrol import licences. Dangote had previously warned that continued imports could force it to redirect more of its refined products to export markets, given the substantial storage, financing and inventory costs of holding large volumes of unsold PMS.
The immediate consequence could be a sharper division in the domestic PMS market, with Dangote increasingly focusing its local supply on non-importing marketers while licensed importers rely more heavily on imported cargoes.
