The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has reduced the price of petrol from N840 to N820 per litre. The N20 reduction came one week after the refinery dropped the price of the fuel from N880 to N840.

This indicates a N60 (6.82 per cent) cut in petrol prices by the Dangote refinery within a week. The spokesman of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, told our correspondent on Tuesday that the company reduced the price to make the product more affordable for Nigerians.

“We have reduced petrol gantry price to N820 from N840 per litre,” he stated, noting that the price slash took effect from Tuesday.

Recall that Dangote, NNPC and other major fuel distributors in Nigeria hiked petrol prices less than three weeks ago, blaming this on the rise in crude oil prices in the international market as occasioned by the conflict between Israel and Iran.

The pump prices of petrol hovered between N915 and N955 at the pumps, depending on the location. It was below N900 before the sudden hike. During the price hike, marketers stated that the product was sold at N960 and N980 in the far north because of the distance.

However, as crude prices fell below $70 last week, the pump prices of PMS also declined. Crude prices had crashed because Israel and Iran stopped bombing each other, alleviating fears of a supply disruption in the Middle East.

As of Tuesday, many filling stations sold petrol below N900 per litre in Lagos and Ogun States. Our correspondent reports that the filling stations sold petrol at rates ranging from N875 to N890 a litre. A marginal drop is expected in the price of the product at the pumps.