Without the feisty price competition over who sells the cheapest premium motor spirit (PMS) going on between Nigeria’s two biggest refinery operators, first the latest entrant in the scene, the Dangote Group and then the country’s oil company the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited with its longest-serving track record, the thinking this March is that buyers won’t get the benefits they can now access and this is most certainly true considering where the consumers are coming from.

The falling rates of food essentials has been a major topic since the beginning of March when Ramadan started and analysts are putting it down to positive changes in the energy sector, which is being driven by the Dangote Petrochemical Company in Lagos launching several reductions in its petrol wholesaler rate, which the company says is the gantry price.

Gantry price refers to the value big oil marketers get from getting supplies directly from the Dangote Refinery, depending on what quantity is sold. Last week, the Lekki plant that was commissioned in May 2023 announced three days before the commencement of Ramadan that it would now sell at ₦825.

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This announcement captures a ₦65 difference from the old amount Dangote charged. Now, the state-run NNPCL, thinking it can do better, has reacted with its retail price that is equally as good, if not better than the petrol filling station sending out their trucks to extract the premium grade at Lekki.  

MRS Holdings is among three energy industry companies buying PMS from Dangote. Ever since its customers heard about the opportunity to fill their vehicle tanks with petrol charged at ₦865 per litre, they have been trooping in, so can a ₦5 reduction being offered by NNPCL tilt the balance?

Talking to Channels Television’s Politics Today programme a day ago, he said: You may want to call it a price war, but in economics, when a duopoly fights, it is the best for the populace because they will drive themselves to neutral profits.

A statement from the Dangote refinery marking the second price reduction under a month, specifically February, read that this strategic price adjustment is designed to provide essential relief to Nigerians in anticipation of the upcoming Ramadan season while also supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic recovery policy by alleviating the financial burden on the Nigerian populace, and the country’s national oil company will be thinking it is trying to do the same.

It had taken five days after Dangote announced its second price slash in February that the NNPCL came up with its own rate, although it wasn’t officially announced. Only when a customer visits the company’s self-managed filling stations and franchises will they get the new offer.

All over Nigeria and not just Lagos, petrol buyers making purchases for their cars or generators had preferred to visit three fueling centres – MRS Holdings, Ardova Petroleum and Heyden – all who buy based on Dangote’s gantry rates.

More of the competition would probably go on; the Channels Television interviewee is thinking it should continue. But in the event any of them fizzle out, be ready to buy at over ₦1,000 again, he warns Nigerians currently experiencing relief.

Certainly, over this course of Ramadan and the 40 days of Lent, there is no such worry. Instead, there have been improving inflation figures, although rebased, food supplies in the markets have been high because it is their season and all these things the citizens do not want to end.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.