On Sunday, June 9, 2024, operators of modular refineries stated the likelihood of the petrol price falling to about N300/Litre upon the start of mass production by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other indigenous producers.
However, it was stated this is only achievable if the government can ensure adequate provision of crude oil to local refiners to halt abroad in Nigeria. The aegis of the Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria mentioned a replica of what happened to the cost of diesel after Dangote started producing it to petrol once a significant portion was being produced massively in Nigeria.
The Publicity Secretary of CORAN, a registered association of modular and conventional refinery companies in Nigeria, Eche Idoko, stated, “A lot of companies today benefit from the importation of petroleum products at the expense of Nigerians.”
He further stated, “If we begin to produce PMS today in large volumes, provided there is adequate crude oil supply, I can assure you that we should be able to buy PMS at N300/litre as the pump price.
“Why make Nigerians buy it at almost N700/Litre when you know that if you allow refineries to work, the price will decrease? Is it because you want to satisfy the global refiners abroad that are making so much from us?”
In response to this, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, stated that, “Right now, Nigeria has no cause to import anything apart from gasoline (petrol) and by sometime in June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a litre,”
Dangote had crashed the pump price of diesel earlier in the year to N1,200/litre when the commodity was selling at between N1,700 and N1,800/litre at the time.
He further dropped the price to below N1,000/litre but could not sustain it due to the rise in the exchange rate. The refinery eventually returned the price to the initial rate of N1,200/litre.
