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By Adewale Sanyaolu
The controversy stirred by Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals over alleged diversion of subsidised fuel by petroleum marketers is yet to die down, with the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) roundly dismissing the accusation as unfounded.
According to the association, marketers are not diverting fuel but merely devising survival strategies in response to the harsh economic realities facing the industry.
Dangote Refinery, last week, said it uncovered a fresh racket involving some of its affiliate marketers and strategic partners who have been diverting subsidised refined petroleum products for profit, prompting the suspension of the refinery’s discounted fuel supply scheme.
The company said recent investigations revealed that certain marketers who were granted discounted products, meant to ensure affordability and steady supply across retail outlets, had been re-routing the loaded trucks to unregistered third-party marketers.
The scheme was originally designed to support Dangote’s registered affiliate marketers in achieving stable profit margins amid price competition from fuel importers while also guaranteeing nationwide availability of the refinery’s products.
However, the refinery alleged that marketers were found to be circumventing the distribution chain by allowing importing, non-registered marketers to pick up products from the refinery using their Authority To Collect loading ticket.
This, it said, allowed them to cash in on the price differential without incurring legitimate costs associated with logistics, retail station operations, or administrative compliance, and making fast profit.
But speaking to Daily Sun in a telephone interview, the National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, Mr. Chukwudi Akadike, reiterated that the claims by Dangote Refinery were unfounded.
He explained that due to the fragile state of the economy, which has reduced the purchasing power of Nigerians, marketers are now moving products picked up from the Dangote Refinery under the discounted arrangement to other filling stations who are not Dangote affiliates so as to sell them faster.
“As you know, the market is already experiencing fragmented pricing, and all a marketer could do now is to move products to where they can sell it faster.”
He noted that under the bulk purchase agreement with Dangote, marketers have a limited number of days to evacuate the product from the refinery.
“Some of these marketers don’t have the capacity to store these volumes because of low sales, so they rather move them to their partner depots to store the products,” he added.
IPMAN argued that as long as the product still remains within the shores of Nigeria, there should be nothing to worry about.
He explained that the situation is so bad in the downstream sector that some marketers cannot afford to buy a truckload of fuel because of the high cost.
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The IPMAN spokesman added that the use of alternative fuel such as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has further slowed down sales for petrol consumption.
It’s all about capacity and strength in the area of distribution channels.
“A marketer might have the financial capacity to buy bulk products from Dangote Refinery but be weak in the area of distribution channel.
So, such a marketer will go into an agreement with idle filling stations to push the products there for quick return on investments.”
The letter titled, “Suspension of the Strategic Partner Discounted Price”, read: “In our drive to ensure the distribution and retail sale of DPRP refined petroleum products across your service stations nationwide, DPRP commenced the strategic partnership scheme with the sole aim of ensuring consumers nationwide have access to affordable and clean petroleum products.
“Unfortunately, over the last few months, DPRP has been receiving unprecedented complaints of Strategic Partners (Partners) selling their ATCs at the refinery (Tarmac) below the prevailing PMS gantry product price. Whilst we have engaged Partners severally on this, it has become evident that this has become an area of grave concern to DPRP as it affects the sustainability of our gantry operations.
“To this end, DPRP Management is suspending the discounted price offered to Partners effective 13th July 2025 and working towards restructuring the scheme.”
The refinery, however, gave certain concessions to ensure continued off-take of products, noting that all outstanding Product Release Notes issued at the discounted partner rate would remain valid for loading.
Also, any partner who had completed payment processes before the effective suspension date would still receive products at the agreed discounted rate.
Some of the Dangote strategic partners include MRS Oil, Heyden Petroleum, Ardova Plc, Hyde Energy, Optima Energy, and Techno Oil.
Others are TotalEnergies, Garima Petroleum, Sunbeth Energies, Sobaz Nigeria Ltd., Virgin Forest Energy, Sixxco Oil Ltd., NU Synergy Ltd., and Soroman Nigeria Ltd.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery recently reduced the ex-depot price of petrol (PMS) for the second time in nine days, lowering it from N840 to N820 per litre.
The new price took effect on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. The previous reduction was from N880 to N840 per litre.
The refinery’s spokesperson, Anthony Chiejina, stated that the reduction is aimed at making fuel more affordable for Nigerians.
