OIL MARKETERS WEIGHING POTENTIAL DIESEL PRICE CUT TO N700/LITRE AFTER DANGOTE’S REDUCTION

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) is optimistic that the Dangote refinery’s operations will lead to a significant drop in diesel prices, potentially hitting N700 per litre. 

Hammed Fashola, IPMAN’s National Vice President, praised the refinery for already lowering diesel prices from over N1,200 to N1,000.

Fashola described this development as positive and expected, noting that further reductions are anticipated. 

He attributed the potential price decrease to the Naira’s strengthening against the dollar, with the black market exchange rate approaching N1,000.

He explained that local production has eliminated challenges such as shipping and customs duties, resulting in price reductions. 

Fashola emphasized that with these factors in play, IPMAN hopes diesel prices will drop to around N700 per litre, a change that would benefit everyone.

“This is a good and welcome development. That is what we expected. Even we are still expecting that diesel will still come down more. Because if you look at the dollar rate to the naira now, the currency is doing well against the dollar. The exchange rate now is almost N1,000 on the black market. We still expect that the dollar will come down more.

“When you look at the diesel being produced here, there are lots of factors that have come to play; like the issue of shipment, the issue of tax, Customs and others. 

“All those are not there again. So, we marketers, we are expecting diesel to come to like N700 per litre; that is our prayer and at that level, it will be a blessing to everybody. That is what we are looking at. What we produce here must be quite different from what is imported. That is what we expected,”, he stated.