The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has denied sabotaging Dangote Refinery’s efforts to lower down fuel price.
NNPC said contrary to the claims, the pricing of the petroleum products from any refinery is determined by global market forces.
WikkiTimes reports that the NNPC has jerked up fuel prices in its retail filling stations while other marketers increased their prices up to N1200.
It explained that the recent changes in prices have no impact on the Dangote Refinery as it can sell its products at lower price.
Olufemi Soneye, NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, in a statement said the company is not the sole offtaker of all products from the refinery.
The statement added that if the current price of the commodity is perceived as high, the Dangote Refinery has the opportunity to sell at lower price in Nig marketers.
The oil company countered the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) which claims the NNPC is undermining the Dangote Refinery.
Soneye said the refinery and any other domestic refinery are free to sell directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, which is the current practice for all fully deregulated products.
“The pricing of petroleum products from any refinery, including the Dangote Refinery Ltd. (DRL), is determined by global market forces. The recent changes in PMS prices have no impact on the DRL or any other domestic refinery’s access to the Nigerian market. In fact, if current prices are perceived as high, it presents an ideal opportunity for the refinery to sell its products at lower prices in the Nigerian market”.
“Furthermore, we emphasize that there is no guarantee of lower prices associated with domestic refining compared to any global parity pricing framework, as confirmed by the DRL. The NNPC Ltd. will only fully offtake PMS from the DRL if the market prices of PMS are higher than the pump prices in Nigeria”.
“The DRL and any other domestic refinery are free to sell directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, which is the current practice for all fully deregulated products. NNPC Ltd. has no desire or intention to become the distributor for any entity in a free market environment, and therefore, the notion of becoming a sole offtaker does not arise”, it said.
The NNPC added that it cannot in any circumstance undermine a business in which it holds a billion-dollar stake.
