NNPC asks Nigerians not to hope on Dangote and Port Harcourt Refineries to crash petrol prices

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) has asked Nigerians to refrain from hoping for the newly commissioned Dangote Refinery and the Port Harcourt Refinery to crash petrol prices.

NNPC boss, Mele Kyari, said that the two refineries and others in the country would not change the pump price of petrol.

Kyari revealed this during an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, June 1, 2o23, stressing that the belief that petrol prices would crash immediately after the country begins domestic refining and production was false.

He confirmed that the 650,000-capacity refinery belonging to Dangote would begin to ship products by the end of July or early August 2023.

The NNPC CEO stated that the Port Harcourt Refinery would be delivered by the end of the year and that the facility would boost local petrol production.

He stated that despite the volume of petrol expected from the facilities, the product cost would remain high, despite being produced locally.

Kyari said: “There is a notion that prices will reduce if the product is processed locally. Let me make it clear that it is not going to change anything. If you produce locally, the refineries will also input the cost of production and other things, which will be sold at the current price.

According to Kyari, fuel queues experienced across the country would clear soon as the scarcity is artificial.

“I don’t see it staying beyond another day or two, maximum. It can be on Saturday. We have supplies. The fundamental trouble with the PMS system is supply, but I have supplies.

“There are over 810 million liters of PMS in depots, tanks, and fuel stations across the country, so you don’t have the problem of transferring those from marine to land; you already have them on the ground,” he stated.

He affirmed the petrol price document circulating online, stating it was from the NNPC.

But an energy policy analyst, Adeola Yusuf, told Legit.ng that what the two refineries will do is that they will eliminate certain costs which makes it high for the NNPC to sell petrol.

He said: "The two refineries will reduce freight costs, demurrage, and other costs associated with importing fuel from overseas.

"Even though the price will not decrease significantly, the refineries will cause prices to moderate to a certain level across the country."

He said if the NNPC grants licenses to petrol importers, that might also help push down the cost of petrol in the country.

"The NNPC has indicated an interest in granting petrol import licenses to importers, especially importers. So, if these new players come on board, the forces of demand and supply come into place and force down pricing", Yusuf said.