AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Despite receiving petrol at a reduced ex-depot price of N820 per litre from the Dangote Refinery – with no additional logistics costs – most of the refinery’s marketing partners have yet to lower pump prices at their filling stations.
Findings revealed that major partners, including Heyden, AP, MRS and others, continued to sell petrol at N865 per litre.
Only a few MRS outlets in Lagos adjusted their prices to N841 per litre, prompting long queues at the MRS station in Alapere, where motorists rushed to buy at the reduced rate. Other stations along the same axis maintained their previous prices of N865 per litre.
In Ogun State, the MRS station in Olowotedo, along the Mowe-Ibafo corridor, sold petrol for as high as N875 per litre. Heyden offered N863, while Ardova and several others retained prices between N865 and N870 per litre.
Other marketers, including Conoil, Eterna, Golden Super, Nepal Energies, Kifayat Global Energy, and Riquest & Gas, are also part of Dangote Refinery’s logistics-free fuel distribution initiative.
The refinery had earlier announced that petrol prices were expected to drop from Monday, September 15, following the deployment of over 1,000 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered trucks for nationwide distribution.
According to Dangote, the initiative aimed to eliminate logistics costs and lower the ex-depot price to N820 per litre – a move expected to bring pump prices down to N841 in Lagos and other South-West states, and around N851 in Abuja, Rivers, Delta, Edo, and Kwara states.
The new pricing framework was to take immediate effect in selected states, with a nationwide rollout planned as more CNG trucks were deployed. However, nearly three weeks later, the anticipated price relief has not materialised, as most stations continue to sell at previous rates.
Several Dangote CNG trucks were sighted along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, confirming the commencement of the logistics-free distribution scheme.
Some marketers, however, attributed the unchanged prices to existing stock purchased at higher costs, assuring that adjustments would be made once new supplies reach their tanks.
