Dangote petrol price rises by N185 in three weeks

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has continued to increase the price of premium motor spirit (petrol) despite the international price of crude oil remaining below the level recorded during the earlier surge in March.

The latest increase to N1,350 is the highest gantry price the refinery has ever announced since it came into operation in 2024.

The new price, which took effect on Saturday, raised the refinery’s gantry price by N85 from N1,265 per litre. It came as Brent crude traded around $104 per barrel, following a sharp rise in international oil prices amid disruptions to global supply linked to the conflict involving the United States and Iran.

The latest increase is significant because Dangote Refinery’s petrol gantry price is now higher than it was when international crude oil reached its recent peak.

Findings by our correspondent showed that the refinery’s gantry price was still below N1,300 per litre when Brent crude rose above $115 per barrel during the earlier oil price surge. At the time, the naira was also trading at a marginally higher exchange rate against the dollar than it is currently.

However, with Brent now trading at around $104 per barrel, below its earlier peak, Dangote has raised its petrol gantry price to N1,350 per litre. This means the refinery is now charging a higher ex-depot/gantry price for petrol at a lower crude oil price than during the previous oil price spike.

That comparison is important because crude oil is the principal feedstock for the refinery, while the naira-dollar exchange rate is another major factor affecting the cost of imported crude and refined petroleum products.

The latest price hike means that the Dangote refinery has raised its petrol gantry price four times since August 21, taking the price from N1,165 to N1,350 per litre within 22 days.

The refinery first increased the price from N1,165 to N1,185 on August 21, before another N15 increase took it to N1,200 on August 26. Three days later, on August 29, the price was raised by N65 to N1,265, followed by Saturday’s N85 increase.

In all, the successive adjustments have increased the refinery’s gantry price by N185, representing a 15.9 per cent rise in less than a month.

In a circular issued by the Group Commercial Operations of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, the company announced that its coastal price had also been increased from N1,669,545 to N1,783,530 per metric tonne.

The latest adjustment has occurred against a different crude price environment from the one that prevailed when the refinery made some of its previous price adjustments.

Brent crude had climbed above $115 per barrel during the oil price surge in March following the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict. At the time, the international benchmark traded significantly above its current level. Dangote’s petrol gantry price was N1,275 at that time.

By June, however, Brent had fallen below $80 per barrel, with the benchmark settling at $78.96 on June 16 as optimism over a possible resolution to the conflict eased concerns about disruption to oil supplies.

Dangote subsequently reduced its petrol gantry price to N1,175 per litre in June, far below public expectations of a significant reduction. At the time, a Dangote refinery official explained that further reductions could be possible but noted that the refinery was still processing expensive crude purchased during the period of high oil prices.

The explanation meant that the benefit of falling international crude prices did not immediately translate into a corresponding reduction in the cost of products coming out of the refinery, as the facility still had higher-cost crude in its tanks.

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“When international crude prices fell to around $80 per barrel in June, the refinery did not immediately reduce its petrol price in line with the decline. The explanation given at the time was that the refinery still had significant volumes of expensive crude bought when international oil prices were higher.

“Now that crude prices have risen again, the refinery has moved quickly to increase its petrol gantry price, pushing it from N1,265 to N1,350 per litre.

“That’s big. This has created a contrast in the way changes in crude prices are reflected in petrol prices: when crude prices fell, the refinery pointed to its old and expensive crude stocks as a reason for delaying price reductions; now that crude prices have risen, it has increased its petrol price even though the benchmark remains below its previous peak,” a marketer said, seeking anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

However, the National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, said the refinery is only responding to global oil prices, saying petrol could hit N2,000 per litre if the Federal Government failed to intervene.

Ukadike urged the Federal Government to sell crude to local refineries at a price different from that of the global market.

Meanwhile, the refinery’s pricing decisions have therefore become an important reference point for other suppliers and marketers, with changes in its gantry price often followed by adjustments in depot and retail prices across the country.

Following the latest increase, some filling stations began adjusting their pump prices, with petrol selling between N1,380 and N1,400 in some locations. The latest increase also comes on the eve of Dangote Refinery’s initial public offering, which opens to investors today, September 14.

The refinery is offering 4.1 billion ordinary shares at N525 each in an IPO that could raise about N2.15tn if fully subscribed. The offer is scheduled to run from September 14 to October 13, with the shares expected to begin trading on the Nigerian Exchange in November.

The IPO is expected to be one of the largest share offerings in Africa and is targeted largely at retail investors. The company has said proceeds will support its expansion plans, including the proposed increase in refining capacity from its current 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day.

The refinery’s financial performance has also improved sharply ahead of the share sale. It recorded revenue of about N19.13tn and a profit after tax of approximately N2.50tn in the first half of 2026, compared with a loss in the corresponding period of 2025.

The improvement has coincided with increased refinery utilisation and favourable conditions in international refined-product markets. The refinery, which cost about $20bn to build, began operations in 2024 and has since become a major source of refined petroleum products for Nigeria and other African markets.

Meanwhile, Dangote has continued to face questions over the volume of crude available to it locally. In July, the refinery began pricing some fuel products in US dollars, with a Dangote spokesperson citing difficulties in obtaining sufficient crude under the naira-for-crude arrangement and the mismatch between buying crude in dollars and selling products in naira.

The refinery said at the time that it required between 13 and 15 crude cargoes monthly, while local supply under the arrangement was insufficient to meet its requirements.

With international crude prices now above $100 and the refinery increasing its crude purchases, the latest petrol price adjustment has put renewed focus on the relationship between crude costs, refinery pricing and pump prices in Nigeria.

For consumers, the N1,350 gantry price represents a further increase in the cost of petrol supplied by the country’s largest refinery, coming after a period in which the refinery’s prices had fallen to N1,175 when international crude dropped below $80.

The latest increase consequently leaves petrol prices substantially higher than their June level, even though the current Brent price remains below the peak recorded during the earlier oil price surge.