A foreign Investor Scouting for Fuel on Okada
Following the Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, which ordered the NNPCL to resume with immediate effect, the selling of crude oil to local refineries in Naira even though the duration of the initial deal has elapsed on March 31st, prices of fuel have started to drop in effect.
Whereas the NNPCL is yet to make official reaction, in its usual style of response, the Dangote Refinery has announced a downward revision of its ex-depot petrol price to ₦865 per litre, slicing ₦15 off the previous rate of ₦880.
The refinery communicated the price cut to marketers early Thursday morning through a formal notice.
A pro forma invoice confirming the new pricing was sighted by industry insiders, and the adjustment was further verified via the petroleum pricing tracker, petroleumprice.ng.
This price drop, although modest, aligns with industry expectations. Marketers had earlier hinted that Nigeria’s 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery—Africa’s largest—was on the verge of reducing its petrol loading costs by the end of the week, contributing to growing optimism about a potential decline in pump prices across the country.
On Wednesday, the FEC approved the full-scale implementation of the previously suspended deal, which mandates the sale of crude oil to local refineries in exchange for refined products, settled in naira. The Ministry of Finance, in a statement released via its official X (formerly Twitter) handle, reaffirmed that the initiative is not a stop-gap measure but a foundational policy aimed at fostering energy security and reducing Nigeria’s reliance on foreign exchange for petroleum imports.
The statement followed a high-level meeting between Finance Minister Wale Edun and key stakeholders, including representatives from the Dangote Refinery. Discussions focused on the policy’s rollout and the challenges encountered so far.
Speaking on the development, Chinedu Ukadike, National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), described the reduction as timely. He tied the move to broader reforms being implemented under the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) revived Naira-for-Crude initiative.
