NNPC Reduces Petrol Price to N860 Per Litre

Less than 24 hours after Dangote Petroleum Refineries and Petrochemical (DRAP), announced a downward slash of the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has followed suit by bringing down its own retail price.

In what appears a price war, which could see the price of the commodity, which sharp rise from N198 to N550, after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the removal of subsidy on the product, minutes after his inauguration on May 29, 2023, and had risen to as high as N1,200 at a point in 2024, the NNPCL said the product would now sell for N860 per litre in Abuja from N965 per litre.

Outside the price reductions, which reportedly caught the independent marketers unawares, with most of them complaining of products which they could hardly market due to high prices, the Dangote, said to be the biggest single-chain refinery in the world, upped the ante on Sunday when it announced it would absorb N16billion loss by refunding N65 per litre to marketers so Nigerians will benefit from cheaper fuel.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the refinery said particularly that it would refund customers who purchased petrol at rates higher than the advertised prices from any of its key partners – AP (Ardova Plc), Heyden, or MRS – across Nigeria, a move coming its most recent reduction of its gantry price from N890 per litre to N825 per litre.

Stating that the move was part of the ongoing efforts to ensure that Nigerians were the primary beneficiaries of the price reduction and in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, aimed to stimulate the economy, the refinery confirmed it would refund N65 per litre on the over 200,000 metric tonnes of PMS purchased by marketers at the old gantry price of N890 per litre, before the new rate of N825 per litre.

“The step, effective February 27, 2025, guarantees that none of our valued business partners will experience a loss due to the price change. More importantly, it ensures that the new, lower rate takes immediate effect nationwide for the benefit of the Nigerian people,” adding that the initiative would extend beyond MRS Holdings, Ardova Plc (AP), and Heyden.