The $20 billion refinery claimed that the value of the Naira-denominated crude it received from the NNPCL had been surpassed by the sales of its products in Naira.
As the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily suspends the sale of petroleum products in Naira, Nigerians may see a rise in the cost of premium energy items like gasoline and diesel.
According to a statement released by the company on Wednesday, “this decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars.”
According to the $20 billion refinery in Lagos, the value of its Naira-denominated crude received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has been surpassed by the sales of its products in Naira.
“We have to temporarily change our sales currency to match our crude procurement currency as a result,” the company said.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it stated.
The refinery’s statement coincides with its ongoing price war with the NNPCL.
In July 2024, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) ordered the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other nearby refineries in naira rather than US dollars in an effort to ease the pressure on the US dollar and ensure the price stability of petroleum goods.
The NNPCL announced at the beginning of March 2025 that its six-month contract with the Dangote Refinery for the sale of oil in Naira was set to expire in March 2025.
However, the state corporation stated that negotiations were underway to replace the deal and that Dangote Refinery has been able to access more than 48 million barrels of crude oil since October 2024 through the Naira-denominated agreement.
Additionally, the NNPCL reported that since the private refinery started operating in 2023, it has provided it with more than 84 million barrels of crude oil.
With all of its state-owned refineries out of commission for decades until 2024, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has energy issues. The state-owned NNPCL was the main importer of the necessary goods, and the nation was mostly dependent on imported refined petroleum products.
Queues for fuel are widespread throughout the nation. Due to decades of faulty electricity supply, the price of gasoline has more than quadrupled since President Bola Tinubu removed the subsidy in May 2023, rising from about ₦200/liter to about ₦1,000/liter. This has made matters worse for the people who use gasoline to power their cars and generators.
The wealthy businessman started producing 350,000 barrels per day at the Lagos facility last December. By the end of the year, the refinery, which was first hampered by regulatory disputes, intends to reach its maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day. In addition to gasoline, the refinery has started supplying the nation’s marketers with diesel and aviation fuel.
ALSO READ:
