30th July 2025
There seems to be a new wave of petrol prices competition between Importers of the product and Dangote refinery as importers have dropped petrol prices below the price offered by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
This development comes amid a call by the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, for the Federal Government to ban fuel importation.
Accordingly findings showed that, while Dangote partners, such as MRS, Heyden, and others, sell at N865 or N875, some filling stations now sell petrol below N860 per litre, in Lagos and Ogun States.
As of Tuesday, a filling station named SGR in Ogun State reduced its price to N847 per litre. Marketers confirmed that most importers have reduced their ex-depot petrol prices below that of the Dangote refinery.
READ MORE; Fuel Prices Set to Climb as Depot Owners Raise Petrol and Diesel Rates Amid Global Oil Surge
That same Tuesday, it was learnt that Dangote refinery was selling petrol at N820 per litre while some depots sold the product at N815 per litre. According to Petroleumprice.ng, Aiteo, Menj and others put their prices at N815/litre.
The price battle is effort by importers to remain in business through competitive pricing. Many had previously complained of recording losses when the 650,000-barrels-per-day capacity Dangote refinery began implementing constant price cuts earlier this year.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, confirmed the ongoing downward price review by the importers.
According to Ukadike, “Depot owners are dropping their petrol prices. Some of them are selling N815, some are selling N817, while Dangote is selling N820. NNPC is still selling at N825; it has not dropped its prices yet.”
He described the competition as the beauty of market liberalisation, saying President Bola Tinubu should not heed calls to ban fuel importation.
“This is the beauty of the liberalisation of the market. That is why we opined that the President should not ban anybody from importing petroleum products. Nobody should be stopped from bringing in petroleum products. That is the beauty of opening up the market. Implementation and local refining will checkmate unfair pricing. As an indigenous country, you must refine to ensure that you have the best price,” Ukadike said.
READ MORE; Petrol Prices Dip as Six Depots Slash Rates Amid Rising Market Competition
On claims that toxic and substandard fuels are being imported into the country, the IPMAN spokesman said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority is in place to check substandard fuels.
He stated that it appears that importers are daring Dangote by leading the charge in slashing petrol prices, a practice Dangote recently described as unfair competition. According to Dangote, the importation of fuel into Nigeria is killing local refining and discouraging further investments in the sector and even the economy.
In order to remain viable, he urged governments across Africa to take deliberate steps as the United States, Canada, and the European Union have done to protect domestic producers from what he called unfair competition.
Dangote did not mince words when he said that the Nigeria First policy announced by Tinubu should apply to the petroleum products sector. “The Nigeria First policy announced by His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, should apply to the petroleum product sector and all other sectors,” he stated.
This request by Dangote seeks to place a ban on the importation of petrol, diesel, and other products being produced locally. He argued that local refiners were finding it difficult to sell their products because of what he called dumping. The billionaire businessman alleged that importers were dumping toxic fuel that would never be allowed in Europe.
