S&P Global Says Dangote Petrol Too Costly Compared to Current Crude Oil Prices, Encourages Imports
- A recent report has said that Dangote Refinery’s petrol is too pricey relative to the crash in crude oil prices
- The report disclosed that the recent price reductions by the refinery are not significant compared to the fall in crude oil price
- While crude oil prices fell 17.9%, the Dangote Refinery has lowered its gantry price by just 1.7%, from N880 per litre to N835
Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.
The price of petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery has been seen as one of the reasons petroleum product imports persist in Nigeria.
S&P Global, an American financial analytics company, disclosed in its recent report that Dangote’s price reduction was not significant enough relative to the global crash in crude prices.
Source: UGC
Dangote Refinery crashes petrol prices
The mega refinery has reduced petrol and other petroleum product prices several times, creating a price war with industry leaders.
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The refinery crashed its PMS price from N1,100 per litre in September last year, when it began petrol production, to N860 per litre in March 2025, before increasing its prices again due to the collapse of the naira-for-crude deal.
Dangote Refinery’s current prices encourage imports
However, the American investment firm said the refinery did not lower its loading prices significantly enough, leading to massive PMS imports by marketers.
According to S&P Global, the incentives to ship products to West Africa were due to Dangote Refinery, stating that while flat prices crashed massively due to crude oil prices, Dangote has not lowered its loading prices.
The report said that between April 1 and 9, the Eurobob M1 swap dropped from $734.25/MT to $603/MT, representing a 17.9% drop, before recovering.
However, it said that over the period, Dangote’s truck prices at its loading gantry dropped only 1.7% from N880 per litre to N865.
The report disclosed that the development had encouraged product imports in West Africa, where high local prices have led marketers to import from international traders in larger volumes.
Dangote Refinery directs filling stations to adjust
Legit.ng reported that the 650,000 bpd-capacity refinery reduced its gantry petrol prices on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, to N835 per litre, asking its partner retail outlets in Lagos to sell at N890 from N930 per litre.
The refinery said:
“In the South-West, the price will be N900 per litre, reduced from N930. In the North-West and North-Central, the price will be N910 per litre, lowered from N940. In the South-East, South-South, and North-East, the price will be N920 per litre, down from N950.”
Findings show that some filling stations in Ogun and Lagos states have reduced their prices, sparking a new round of competition in the sector.
It was observed that SGR, an independent marketer, also reduced its prices, selling below the approved Dangote rate.
Punch reports that full implementation of the naira-for-crude agreement and the current drop in crude prices will allow Dangte to reduce prices and sell petrol at an affordable rate.
Massive petrol imports heading to West Africa
However, S&P Global said that threats of further tariffs from the US and the ongoing arbitration with West Africa have led to a shift in European petrol export flows.
It disclosed that tariff threats and changes in Nigeria’s refining capacity have seen a flip in the trend this year, as large volumes are presently set to arrive in West Africa’s Offshore Lome hub.
Source: UGC
Ship-tracking data from S&P Global Commodities at sea shows that about four million metric tonnes of petrol are projected to be delivered into West Africa from all locations over 30 days to April 27, the highest in over two years.
Petrol imports drop
A previous report by Legit.ng shows that traders imported 156.897 million litres of petrol in eight days, between April 8 and 16, 2025.
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The chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, said that petrol imports have dipped from 44.6 million litres daily in August 2024 to 14.7 million litres in April 2025.
Nigeria plans a National Petroleum Product Stockpile reserve
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the Nigerian government was planning to build a national strategic petroleum products stockpile, modelled after the US crude reserve, to hedge the economy against global market disruptions.
Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), disclosed this on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, saying the move would mitigate supply shocks and boost Nigeria’s energy security.
Nigeria frequently battles fuel scarcity and long queues despite being a top global crude oil producer.
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Proofreading by Kola Muhammed, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
Pascal Oparada (Business editor) For over a decade, Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy. He has worked in many media organizations such as Daily Independent, TheNiche newspaper, and the Nigerian Xpress. He is a 2018 PwC Media Excellence Award winner. Email:pascal.oparada@corp.legit.ng
Kola Muhammed (Copyeditor) Kola Muhammed is an experienced editor and content strategist who has overseen content and public relations strategies for some of the biggest (media) brands in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has over 10 years of experience in writing and (copy)editing.
