The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has expanded its free petroleum product delivery initiative to Kano, Imo, Anambra and Nasarawa States as part of efforts to reduce distribution costs and potentially drive down petrol prices.
The programme initially covered Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Kaduna, Abuja and Delta States.
Under the initiative, the refinery absorbs the cost of transporting petroleum products to marketers, reducing the financial burden associated with moving products over long distances.
Group Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Oil & Gas, WAEP and Fertiliser, Fatima Aliko Dangote, said the objective was to ensure that the benefits of domestic refining translated into savings for businesses and consumers.
“The value of domestic refining must ultimately be felt beyond the refinery gate. By absorbing the cost of delivering petroleum products to our customers, we are removing a significant component of the distribution burden and creating room for those savings to flow through the value chain to consumers,” she said.
“Our goal is to make fuel distribution more efficient, reduce avoidable costs and support more competitive pump prices across Nigeria.”
The initiative has received the backing of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), which said it would ease financial and logistical pressures on independent marketers.
IPMAN National Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Ukadike, said marketers often pay for products and wait for days or weeks before they are loaded and transported.
“This gesture, if sustained, will be able to alleviate the sufferings of independent marketers,” he said.
Ukadike said the new arrangement would reduce the period marketers’ funds remained tied up and improve their cash flow.
“This time around, Dangote has made it very, very easy for marketers. Marketers are jubilating, and you will see the return on investment as an independent marketer. Your money will not be tied down,” he said.
He added that reduced transportation costs could also moderate pump prices.
“You also have less risk, and you have petroleum products at your doorstep. Other consumers will also see that our pump price will not continue to go up.
The more Dangote brings down its pump price, the more independent marketers will bring down theirs,” Ukadike said.
He urged the refinery to expand the initiative to more locations, particularly in northern Nigeria.
“This is the beauty of deregulation and competition,” he said.
The expansion comes amid increasing domestic refining capacity and competition within Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
With the refinery operating at a capacity of 700,000 barrels per day, the initiative represents an attempt to address not only product availability but also the cost of moving refined products to distant markets.
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