By Ishaya Ibrahim
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has faulted the Dangote Refinery on its claim that any marketer selling PMS below N990 was dealing in substandard products.
Dr Joseph Obele, the National PRO of PETROAN said the cost of production of petrol is now below N600 per litre.
Obele, who was speaking when he appeared on a live broadcast of Nigeria Info FM 99.3, said since the Nigerian government started selling crude oil to Dangote in Naira, the cost of production of PMS can’t exceed N600 per litre, advising Dangote to consider selling his refined product below the market price to ease the current hardships in Nigeria.
Dr Joseph said: “Scholars of oil sectors have done an analysis and the analysis has shown that the crude for Naira given to Dangote by the Federal Government, cost of production will not go above N600, less than N600. Although the crude oil he imported from the international community, the cost of production will not be above N700.
“But it is wrong for him to say his template for him to fix his refinery selling price is based on and tied to how much the international community is selling. And people are saying the dynamics and the effects and the economic systems at the international market and Nigeria are not the same.
“Dangote should not have fixed his price on the international market. He should have fixed his price on cost of production plus the margin.
“International market (price) in a country where you enjoy so many concessions. While he was building his refinery, the concession he was given for foreign exchange was far less than the official rate to the extent that international experts criticised the concessions given to him. So in Nigeria, where inflation is high, where the minimum wage is poor, Dangote is fixing our buying rate for PMS which is a commodity that every other commodity revolves around. It is wrong for him to say ‘I templated my price based on the international market.”
