Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has resumed gantry loading of Premium Motor Spirit in naira after a week-long suspension, ending a brief and turbulent shift to dollar-denominated sales that rattled Nigeria's downstream fuel market and sent pump prices surging above N1,300 per litre in some locations. However, the return to local currency transactions comes with a significant price adjustment, as the refinery fixed its new ex-depot gantry price at N1,215 per litre, representing an increase of N140, or 13.02 per cent, from the previous price of N1,075 per litre. The resumption, communicated to marketers in a notice issued by the refinery's commercial department on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, takes immediate effect and signals a reversal of the dollar-pricing regime introduced on July 13, which had forced many independent marketers to suspend loading and source products from private depots at significantly higher costs.
The refinery had suspended both gantry and coastal loading on July 15 after introducing a dollar-denominated pricing template for refined petroleum products, citing difficulties in accessing sufficient crude oil under the Federal Government's naira-for-crude arrangement. Under the temporary dollar-based system, petrol was sold at $0.779 per litre, diesel at $1.087 per litre, and Jet A1 aviation fuel at $0.942 per litre. The shift had created widespread uncertainty, with marketers struggling to secure foreign exchange and depot owners repeatedly raising ex-depot prices to cover dollar-linked costs. During the suspension, the average ex-depot price of petrol at private depots reportedly climbed from about N1,075 per litre to approximately N1,275 per litre, representing an increase of N200, or about 18.6 per cent, as available volumes tightened. Some depots, including Bulk Strategic Reserve in Lagos, raised prices by as much as N87 per litre to N1,350, pushing fuel costs to their highest levels in recent memory.
The refinery's decision to restore naira transactions is expected to ease supply constraints in the inland market and improve the nationwide distribution of petroleum products after a chaotic week that triggered panic buying, long queues, and localised supply shortages at retail outlets in Lagos and Abuja. The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, which had pressed the government to intervene and warned that a prolonged dollar-pricing regime risked feeding directly into retail pump prices and stoking inflation, welcomed the development. IPMAN President Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi expressed happiness over the resumption, saying, "We are very happy with this development and I want to assure you that our members would resume loading immediately. This will further improve inland distribution after days of constrained availability."
Despite the relief brought by the return to naira transactions, the price increase has already triggered fresh adjustments across the downstream sector. Market data on Wednesday showed that Brent crude, the international benchmark against which Nigeria's crude is priced, climbed 3.18 per cent to $93.90 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 2.74 per cent to $86.65 per barrel, directly linking the gantry price increase to the sharp rally in global crude oil prices. The refinery also increased its coastal loading price to $1,161.23 per metric tonne, from $1,044.62 per metric tonne, representing an 11.2 per cent increase. Mid-day depot price data for July 22, 2026, showed that petrol depot prices rose across major supply hubs, including Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar, with some depots increasing prices by as much as N87 per litre. In Lagos, the average ex-depot price reportedly climbed to approximately N1,275 per litre during the suspension, and while the new Dangote gantry price of N1,215 is lower than the N1,274 quoted by some depot owners, retail outlets have already adjusted their pump prices to between N1,300 and N1,400 per litre.
The naira sales halt had been tied to strains in the federal government's crude-for-naira initiative, under which local refiners are meant to receive crude oil in the local currency to ease dollar demand and stabilise pump prices. Dangote had said its petroleum product sales in naira had outpaced the naira-denominated crude allocations it was actually receiving from the state oil company, forcing a temporary switch to dollar pricing to match its procurement costs. A senior regulatory official told The PUNCH that the refinery had not breached the Petroleum Industry Act by selling its products in dollars, adding, "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."
For marketers, the shift back to naira removes a source of foreign-exchange exposure that had complicated planning and squeezed margins industry-wide. The reversal offers a measure of relief after a chaotic stretch in which depot owners repeatedly raised ex-depot prices, with some quoting as high as N1,275 a litre in Lagos. However, it remains to be seen how quickly the lower gantry price filters through to filling stations, where retail prices also reflect transport, distribution and dealer margins layered on top of the ex-depot benchmark. Depot owners who built up dollar-priced inventory during the suspension may be slower to adjust their own rates downward. As Nigeria's dominant supplier of refined products since ramping up petrol output, Dangote's pricing decisions carry outsized influence over the downstream market, and its return to naira transactions, while welcomed, comes with a price tag that will be felt by millions of Nigerians already grappling with a rising cost of living.
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