The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has alerted Nigerians concerning the operations of a brand new depot employed by an unnamed worldwide buying and selling firm to mix substandard petroleum merchandise in Nigeria.
It stated the depot, situated adjoining to its operations, was leased for the target of mixing substandard merchandise that may be dumped into the market and purchased by unsuspecting Nigerians.
The Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer of Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, made the allegation in a press assertion on Sunday, stressing that the transfer threatens the nation’s refining trade and public security.
The assertion was in response to statements credited to the Impartial Petroleum Entrepreneurs Affiliation of Nigeria, and different associations that the worth of imported gasoline is cheaper than what’s being offered by the Dangote refinery.
It emphasised that any marketer claiming to promote PMS at a lower cost than the present worth is importing substandard merchandise in connivance with worldwide merchants to flood the nation with low-quality merchandise.
Not too long ago, oil entrepreneurs revealed that the worth of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery was between N1,015 and N1,028/litre relying on the amount being bought.
Primarily based on this, the sellers vowed to import the commodity and promote it under the Dangote refinery worth in addition to the worth being offered by the Nigerian Nationwide Petroleum Firm Restricted.
Though the refinery had denied the claims by the entrepreneurs, on Sunday it alleged that there was connivance with a world agency to mix and dump merchandise into the market to compete with Dangote’s prime quality.
The assertion learn, “We had recently shunned partaking in media fights however we’re constrained to answer the current misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and different associations.
“Each organisations declare that they’ll import PMS at decrease costs than what’s being offered by the Dangote refinery. We benchmark our costs in opposition to worldwide costs and we imagine our costs are aggressive relative to the worth of imports.
“If anybody claims they’ll land PMS at a worth cheaper than what we’re promoting, then they’re importing substandard merchandise and conniving with worldwide merchants to dump low-quality merchandise into the nation, with out concern for the well being of Nigerians or the longevity of their autos.
“On the similar time, a world buying and selling firm has lately employed a depot facility subsequent to the Dangote Refinery, with the target of utilizing it to mix substandard merchandise that will likely be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote refinery’s greater high quality manufacturing.
“That is detrimental to the expansion of home refining in Nigeria.”
It additional famous the complicity of its regulator, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, in detecting substandard merchandise because of the lack of a useful laboratory facility.
“Sadly, the regulator, NMDPRA doesn’t even have laboratory amenities that can be utilized to detect substandard merchandise when imported into the nation,” Dangote stated.
On its pricing, the $20bn Lekki-based plant introduced that it offered petrol at a decreased fee of N960 per litre for provide through ships and N990 per litre for provide through vehicles following the current deregulation of the sector.
It famous that whereas NNPC had set its costs at N971 for ship-based gross sales and N990 for truck-based gross sales, the refinery opted to set its worth at N960 for ship gross sales, retaining the truck fee at N990.
“Publish deregulation, NNPC set the tempo by promoting PMS to home entrepreneurs at N971 per litre on the market into ships and at N990 on the market into vehicles. This set the benchmark for our pricing and we have now even gone decrease to promote at N960 per litre on the market into ships whereas sustaining N990 per litre on the market into vehicles.
“In good religion, and within the curiosity of the nation, we commenced gross sales at these costs with out readability on the trade fee that we are going to use to pay for the crude bought,” it said.
Moreover, the spokesperson emphasised that there’s nothing unsuitable with the Federal Authorities defending its native industries, as is the follow in different international locations.
“We must always level out that it’s not uncommon for international locations to guard their home industries as a way to present jobs and develop the economic system. For instance, the US and Europe have needed to impose excessive tariffs on EVs and microchips as a way to shield their home industries.
“Whereas we proceed with our dedication to offer inexpensive, good high quality, domestically refined petroleum merchandise in Nigeria, we name on the general public to ignore the deliberate disinformation being circulated by brokers of people that want for us to proceed to export jobs and import poverty,” Chiejina said.