Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical has reduced the gantry price of its Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, to N699 per litre from N828 per litre, with effect from yesterday, representing N129 per litre decrease or 15.6% drop when compared with the previous price.
Though the company is yet to make any statement on the drop in the gantry price of the commodity, however, a senior official of the firm was reported to have confirmed the change in the PMS price on Friday.
According to news reports, the top officials of the company disclosed that the refinery cut the price of petrol to assist in reducing transportation expenses ahead of the Christmas period, when millions of Nigerians are expected to travel across states.
The reduction of the petrol gantry by the company is coming a few days after the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, held a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu last Sunday during which he restated the company’s commitment to maintaining competitive domestic fuel prices in the face of global volatility in the oil market and massive smuggling of petrol across Nigeria’s borders.
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He said: “Prices are going down. The reason why prices have to go down is that we have to also compete with imports.”
The industrialist pointed out that though smuggling had declined, the detestable act remained a challenge in the hydrocarbon resources industry.
According to him, petrol price in Nigeria is about 55 per cent lower than the price of the neighbouring countries.”
Despite the ugly phenomenon, Dangote assured the President that the company’s petroleum products would continue to be sold in the market at a very reasonable price since the Dangote Refinery’s operations remained a long-term investment.
He clarified: “We are not here to make our $20 billion back quickly; it’s a long-term investment.”
