Dangote refinery cuts petrol price as oil market cools
Nigeria's Dangote refinery has cut its petrol price again, passing on relief to a market squeezed by high fuel costs as global oil prices ease.
The refinery reduced its ex-depot petrol price to 1,175 naira a litre from 1,250 naira, while also lowering its coastal supply price. The revised rates took effect at midnight, with outstanding volumes repriced accordingly.
The cut followed a sharp retreat in global oil prices after a reported peace agreement between the United States and Iran that eased Middle East tensions and helped reopen oil supply routes. Fuel marketers said increased competition and improved supply could push pump prices down further, toward around 1,200 naira a litre.
A refinery official suggested petrol prices could eventually fall toward 900 naira a litre if current conditions persist, but cautioned that the plant still holds crude bought at higher prices during the earlier period of conflict.
The giant refinery, one of the world's largest, has reshaped Nigeria's fuel market since coming online, reducing the country's historic dependence on imported petrol. Its pricing decisions now ripple through pump prices across Africa's most populous nation, where fuel costs are a sensitive political and economic issue.
