Dangote Refinery’s Exclusive Deal with Marketers Collapses Over Pricing

A fuel supply agreement between the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and 20 major petroleum marketers has collapsed due to pricing disagreements, leading to a surge in petrol imports in November 2025.

The deal, struck in October, had required the consortium to offtake 600 million litres of petrol monthly, with each marketer lifting about 30 million litres. It was intended to stabilize supply and ease retail prices by making selected distributors the primary channel to the market.

However, industry sources say the arrangement broke down after the refinery hesitated to lower its prices in line with falling international benchmarks. Marketers had expected a price review in November, but Dangote maintained rates above the declining import parity price.

This disagreement reportedly prompted marketers to increase imports, with November volumes reaching 1.563 billion litres according to regulatory data. Dangote later reduced its gantry price to ₦699 per litre the lowest in 2025 but the adjustment came too late to salvage the deal.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, confirmed the agreement is no longer in effect. He stated that Dangote has since liberalized sales, allowing even smaller marketers to purchase from as low as 250,000 litres.

Market data shows the spot price of imported petrol has fallen to about ₦696 per litre slightly below Dangote’s current gantry price due to lower crude costs and a stronger naira.

Efforts to get an official response from the Dangote Group were unsuccessful.