LAGOS — Dangote Petroleum Refinery has strongly denied allegations that its Premium Motor Spirit is exported to Lomé and re-imported into Nigeria, calling the claims commercially impossible and economically unviable.
In an official statement on Wednesday, the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery asserted that high shipping logistics costs would entirely eliminate any profit margins from such transactions.
“As a matter of policy, we do not respond to baseless and unsubstantiated claims,” the company stated, adding they are clearing the air on an “ill-motivated web of falsehoods for posterity.” Dangote refinery said.
According to the firm, moving products to Togo and back incurs an estimated logistics cost of $82 to $90 per metric ton, destroying any potential arbitrage opportunity.
“Simply put, there is no evident commercial incentive for a producer to incur additional shipping, storage, financing and handling costs only for the product to return,” management clarified.
To prevent market distortions, the refinery disclosed that its sales contracts and tender terms strictly prohibit the resale or re-importation of any lifted petroleum products back into Nigeria.
The company maintains a comprehensive compliance audit trail, tracking lifting locations, nominated transport vessels, counterparties, and official destination declarations to guarantee full product traceability.
This development follows recent domestic regulatory friction and public debates regarding pricing, local crude supply allocations, and import licensing within Nigeria’s newly deregulated downstream oil sector.
The refinery reiterated its long-standing advocacy for eliminating fuel imports, noting that round-tripping directly undermines domestic refining capacity and places severe pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
