The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has resumed the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, in naira after briefly switching to dollar transactions. At the same time, the refinery has increased its ex-depot price by N140 per litre.
The development comes a week after the 650,000-barrels-per-day refinery suspended petrol loading at its gantry and adopted dollar pricing, a move that disrupted fuel supply, unsettled the downstream market and pushed depot prices higher.
In a notice issued by its commercial department on Wednesday, the refinery informed marketers that petrol sales had reverted to naira. The update was also confirmed by industry platform Petroleumprice.ng.
Under the revised pricing structure, the gantry price of petrol has increased from N1,075 per litre to N1,215 per litre, representing a 13.02 per cent increase. The coastal loading price also rose from N1,441,575 per metric tonne to N1,602,495 per metric tonne.
The notice, titled “PMS Price Change Communication,” stated that the new pricing took immediate effect.
It read, “Please be advised that all unloaded gantry volumes will be subject to repricing at the new price, which is effective 22nd July 2026.
Kindly proceed with placing your order.
Should you require any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.”
The latest move marks the refinery’s return to naira-based domestic petrol sales after its short-lived dollar payment policy sparked concerns among fuel marketers and consumers.
Petroleumprice.ng confirmed that customers had been notified of the reopening of gantry operations under the revised pricing system.
“Yes, the refinery has returned to pricing its product in naira,” the Chief Executive Officer of Petroleumprice.ng, Jeremiah Olatide, said.
The refinery had halted both gantry and coastal loading on July 15 while introducing dollar-denominated prices for refined petroleum products, forcing marketers to rely on private depots where prices climbed sharply due to limited supply.
During that period, the average ex-depot price at private depots reportedly increased from about N1,075 per litre to nearly N1,275 per litre.
The policy also led many independent marketers to suspend purchases from the refinery because they could not easily obtain the foreign exchange required for transactions.
Industry stakeholders warned that the dollar pricing model would increase demand for foreign exchange, put additional pressure on the naira and result in higher petrol prices nationwide.
With Nigeria consuming an estimated 50 million litres of petrol daily, marketers were expected to source about $40 million every day—more than $14 billion annually—to sustain purchases under the dollar payment arrangement.
Dangote Refinery had defended the temporary switch, explaining that it was no longer receiving sufficient crude oil through the Federal Government’s naira-for-crude programme and had to buy additional crude from the international market using dollars.
Under the suspended pricing template, petrol sold for $0.779 per litre, Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) for $1.087 per litre, while Jet A1 aviation fuel was priced at $0.942 per litre.
A senior regulatory official had earlier maintained that the refinery did not violate the Petroleum Industry Act by selling its products in dollars.
The official said, “It’s a pretty straightforward issue. The naira-for-crude deal is not to Dangote’s advantage right now because the company is sourcing crude in dollars. He has absorbed a lot. But maybe he has got to a breaking point. So he has to do stuff to recover costs. And that’s why he wants to share that burden with off-takers.”
Following complaints from petroleum marketers over the impact of the policy on fuel supply and foreign exchange demand, the Federal Government stepped in to engage with the refinery.
Although the refinery has now returned to naira transactions, its new ex-depot price of N1,215 per litre remains lower than the N1,275 per litre charged by some fuel importers. Petroleumprice.ng also confirmed that dollar sales have been suspended for the time being.
Discussions between the Dangote Group and the Federal Government over the naira-for-crude arrangement are still ongoing.
Industry players believe the return to naira payments will help restore normal fuel loading operations and improve product distribution after the week-long disruption. However, they warned that the higher ex-depot price could eventually lead to further increases in depot and pump prices unless global crude oil prices decline or market competition eases the pressure.
Meanwhile, petrol was selling for about N1,300 per litre in Lagos and several other parts of the country on Wednesday as international crude oil prices hovered around $94 per barrel amid renewed tensions in the Middle East.
