Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery
Nigeria ended its state-owned oil company’s monopoly on being the sole buyer of gasoline from billionaire Aliko Dangote’s massive refinery, as it moves toward full deregulation of the market.
Retailers can now purchase gasoline directly from local refineries, marking “a departure from the previous arrangement where the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. served as the sole purchaser and distributor of premium motor spirit from the refineries,” Finance Minister Wale Edun said on Friday.
For years, Africa’s top crude producer shipped its oil abroad and imported the finished petroleum with scarce foreign exchange, selling it at a subsidized price.
That changed in September when it increased the price of fuel closer to the market rate and the Dangote plant near the commercial hub of Lagos started to locally refine gasoline.
The move will allow “marketers to negotiate commercial terms directly with the refineries, fostering a more competitive market environment and enabling a smoother supply chain for petroleum products,” Edun said.
“This transition is expected to enhance efficiency in product availability and stabilize market conditions for the benefit of all Nigerians,” he said in remarks after a meeting to review the implementation of crude sales to Dangote in the local naira currency.
