Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Africa’s largest refinery, is preparing to prioritise PMS sales to marketers without import licences, effectively locking out companies actively bringing in petrol under the Federal Government’s approved import regime, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing internal deliberations.
According to Petroleumprice.ng, the decision follows mounting frustration inside the refinery over the scale of imported petrol still entering Nigeria despite the country’s expanded local refining capacity.
Imported PMS made up about 43 percent of total petrol supply in July, according to market data cited by the refinery — a share Dangote executives view as eroding the domestic market it built the $19 billion plant to serve.
Six companies hold licences from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to import petrol: Matrix Energy, A.A. Rano, AYM Shafa, NIPCO, Pinnacle Oil and Gas, and Bono Energy. The licences, granted in May, cover a combined 720,000 metric tons, with individual allocations ranging from 60,000 to 150,000 tons.
Dangote’s concerns extend beyond market share. The refinery is worried that imported cargoes of inconsistent quality could be blended with its own output before reaching consumers, making it difficult to trace substandard product back to its source and putting the refinery’s brand at risk, the people said. Underlying that concern is a broader complaint about regulatory capacity:
