•As price of diesel drops 20.6% to N1,350 per litre
THERE are indications that Nigeria’s huge dependence on imported petrol would reduce as the $20 billion Dangote Refinery has concluded plans to begin supply of petrol to Nigeria’s domestic market from May 2024.
Before the coming on stream of the 650,000 barrels per day refinery, the nation had depended almost 100 per cent on imported petrol to meet demand.
Facts provided by Dangote Refinery indicates that at full capacity, the facility will produce 99 million liters (26.2 million gallons) of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene per day.
Meanwhile, the price of Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, popularly known as diesel, has dropped by 20.6 per cent to N1,350 per litre in April 2024, from N1,700 per litre in March 2024, as the Refinery pumps more supplies to the market.
Nigeria’s inflation and foreign exchange crisis had pushed the prices of the product, which was mostly imported from the global market to about N1,700 per litre in most parts of the nation, including Lagos and Abuja.
Checks by Vanguard, yesterday, indicated that the price started to drop following the awareness that Dangote Petroleum Refinery has pegged its price at N1,225/litre.
Reacting to the development, the Chief Executive officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said: “This is a good development that we are waiting for, we are hoping it will help bring down the cost of diesel and reduce the pressure on the nations’ Foreign Exchange because the importation of consuming products is consuming about 30 percent of our foreign exchange.”
“If we are able to take advantage of the Dangote refinery to reduce our consuming products, it will go a long way in easing the country’s foreign exchange crisis. However, the macro-economic impact that it will have across all sectors.
