Although NNPCL has said that petrol will now cost N897 per litre, the man whom many are looking forward to for rescue from PMS crises, Aliko Dangote, has said that his refinery is ready to pump the commodity into the country’s starved market.
There is, however, mixed news on pricing as he said he is waiting for a conclusion from President Bola Tinubu-led EXCO, even as NNPCL has jumped forward with the price far higher than expectation.
Dangote revealed that petrol produced from his 650,000 barrels per day refining facility will hit filling stations in the next 48 hours as modalities with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited are formalised.
Dangote said this on Tuesday during a press briefing announcing the formal production of petrol at the refinery.
“Our PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) can be in filling stations within the next 48 hours depending on NNPCL,” he said.
Asked to speak on the pricing of the product from his refinery, Dangote said, “It is an arrangement which is designed and approved by the Federal Executive Council led by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Last December, Dangote, Africa’s leading industrialist, commenced operations at his $20bn facility sited in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day.
The refinery, which was initially troubled by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.
The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Dangote also added that the introduction of naira for crude will reduce the demand for foreign exchange by 40 per cent.
“I want to thank President Bola Tinubu for creating this idea of Naira for crude and Naira for the product. Doing that will give a lot of stability to the Naira and remove 40 per cent of the demand for dollars. That’s not just it, there is a lot of round tripping,” he stated.
He added that it would become possible to track loaded trucks, hence making it easier to compute the national
consumption.
