Even with the successful lifting of petrol from the Dangote Refinery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Sunday, there seems to be no end to the war of words between the two entities.
On Sunday, Dangote Refinery was irked by NNPCL’s claim that it loaded petrol from the refinery at N898 per litre.
Dangote in a statement by Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, described the claims as “misleading and mischievous”.
Mr. Olufemi Soneye, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Limited, was earlier reported to have said it bought the product at N898 per litre in contradiction to reports that it was sold to it at N766 per litre.
Dangote however clarified: “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 bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing 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 with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.
“We assure Nigerians of availability of quality petroleum product and putting an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country”.
However, Dangote, while faulting NNPCL’s claim, did not say the rate at which it sold petrol to the NNPCL that is now the sole off-taker of its petroleum products.
