The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has put out a piece of
advertisement asking customers to buy “high quality petrol” from its plant.
In the advisement, posted on social media on Wednesday, the
refinery said its product is good for vehicles, engines, and the environment.
“Buy minimum of 2 million litres of at N970 per litre,” the
refinery said.
The development comes a day after the Port Harcourt refinery
commenced crude oil processing. The state-owned refinery also began the loading
of petroleum products for trucks on the same day.
“On Tuesday, trucks began loading petroleum products which
include Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) or
diesel and Household Kerosene (HHK) or Kerosene, while other product slates
will be dispatched as well,” NNPC said.
In another statement on November 26, the NNPC said the
rehabilitated old refinery is currently operating at 70 percent of its
installed capacity.
The energy firm said it intends to increase the operation to
90 percent of the refinery’s capacity.
The resuscitation of the Port Harcourt plant happened amid
the Dangote refinery’s struggles with getting crude oil for production and
patronage for its petroleum products.
On October 29, Aliko Dangote, founder of Dangote Industries
Limited (DIL), said the refinery had about 500 million litres of petrol, but
oil marketers were not buying the product.
Yakubu Suleiman, national assistant secretary of the
Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), in an interview
on Arise Television on November 1, said it is more expensive to buy petrol from
the Dangote refinery than other places.
Suleiman said members go for more affordable options at
other depots across Nigeria to avoid the high logistical costs associated with
buying PMS from the refinery.
However, the association later reached an agreement with the
refinery to lift petrol and diesel directly.
On November 24, the Dangote refinery announced a reduction
in the ex-depot price of petrol to N970 per litre for oil marketers.