Eons ago, dinosaurs were believed to have gone extinct and what has happened so far entering the third day of the Holy Month of Ramadan already feels like another class would be phased out very soon and if or when that happens, it would be both households and businesses that get the satisfaction owing to having the world’s largest single-train refinery situated in Nigeria. 

What is to these lots a source of benefits is to oil marketers still bent on importing premium motor spirit (PMS) into the country something of an existential threat since hardly do they have the advantage of owning a refinery that produces premium content and they also do not possess the tough muscles needed to compete against at the pumps.

Thinking about this unfolding dynamic unsurprisingly offers thoughts to ponder – just how fast is their clock ticking?

At the moment, the retail price of petrol at any Dangote Petroleum Refinery-affiliated filling station is the best they have seen since the President Bola Tinubu-led administration started its shelf life on 29 May 2023.

It is a fact that just about this year’s Ramadan was about to start, the refinery announced what was its second rates reduction in a month, and that is what importers obviously cannot wrestle and hope to win against because it would simply mean capacity mismatch.

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One other point that remains equally apparent is that even though the Dangote plant can meet and beat expectations, should satisfying Nigeria’s daily 50 million litres of petrol consumption be the conversation, long lines of queues have emerged nonetheless.

Social media platforms have revealed a procession stationing themselves at the doorsteps of the limited local distributors who had the foresight and the interest to go into partnership with a 650,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery commissioned the month Mr Tinubu was sworn into office.

All combine to make it look like organisations that are not taking part in the partnership, which for depot buyers in Lagos State, means getting PMS at ₦825 per litre and ending up selling at a maximum of ₦865 per litre, are making losses, not profits.

This tends to be the associated reason explaining why there have been vehicles trailing each other at MRS Holdings, Ardova Petroleum and Heyden, who get their supplies only from this new refiner.

In major Nigerian cities, not just Lagos, the motorists needing their PMS refill think they are getting the best possible deals.

Even in Abuja, the federal capital territory, where there are multiple filling stations, of course, the residents are opting for specific brands, MRS Holdings being the focus.

Giving live reporting from this location was Chris Bamidele, tweeting on the first day of the month about a long queue at the only MRS Petrol Station on Airport Road, Abuja. He confirmed that this is not the reaction at other petrol stations charging higher rates of over ₦900 per litre, as all they need is to drive in and buy.

Even as some customers reported where they have been getting fuel, variations have been noticed at those stations selling above the designated cap.

It is possible that the points offering different rates got their supply from earlier, long before the recent slashes announced in late February by the Dangote Group.

Why won’t the marketers or whosoever is importing simply go to Dangote and pick that when we have seen empirically that the Dangote product is cheaper? a statement credited to the Crude Oil Refineries Association of Nigeria (CORAN) late last month has asked.

The association was open about the mismatch by stating that MRS that is getting from Dangote, is selling cheaper than NNPC, the national oil production company.

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Due to this scenario, CORAN says, there’s nothing to justify importation of petroleum products as per the provisions of the PIA and the requirements for backward integration, all the points that suggests business people adamant about bringing in petrol or diesel from outside Nigeria as opposed to patronising the generous Dangote group are existing on borrowed time.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, with its two revived refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri, has been reacting to Dangote’s price tweaks with its own better deals.

Although no official statement was made to that effect, it is thought that the retail pump price at ‘several NNPCL outlets entering the third day of fasting is now ₦860, down from ₦945 witnessed a day prior.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria insiders like Vice President Hammed Fashola, shared about the switch to a new pricing regime when PUNCH Online interacted with him.

He said, It is true, NNPC is selling petrol at ₦860 in the filling stations. Though this has not been reflected on the portal, they told me they are working on updating it.

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Meiza Nigeria