By Peter
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has slashed the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), reducing its petrol gantry rate from N828 to N699 per litre. The adjustment, effective December 12, 2025, is the refinery’s most significant downward review in recent months and marks the 20th petrol price adjustment announced this year.
Real-time market data from Petroleumprice.ng showed that the N129 per litre reduction represents a 15.58% drop in the refinery’s PMS benchmark price. The move comes amid ongoing concerns over high energy costs in Nigeria following the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector.
A senior refinery official, speaking to The Guardian on condition of anonymity, confirmed the development, noting, “It is true that the refinery has reduced petrol gantry price to N699 per litre, though there’s no press statement to it.”
The latest reduction follows statements by the refinery’s Chairman, Aliko Dangote, who recently reassured Nigerians of the company’s commitment to maintaining competitive domestic fuel prices despite global market volatility and smuggling activities along Nigeria’s borders.
Dangote emphasized the refinery’s capacity to stabilize the petroleum products market, stating that increased output and competition with imported products will continue to exert downward pressure on prices. “Prices are going down. The reason prices have to go down is that we also have to compete with imports. There is still quite a lot of smuggling because the price we have in Nigeria is about 55% lower than the price of our neighbouring countries,” he said.
Following the new benchmark, several private depots implemented fresh reductions. Sigmund Depot lowered its ex-depot price by N4 to N824 per litre, Bulk Strategic reduced by N3, while TechnoOil cut its price by N15 per litre.
The frequent price adjustments reflect the refinery’s effort to stabilize the supply chain and enforce pricing discipline under the deregulated regime. Throughout 2025, Dangote Refinery’s repeated reviews have attracted public attention, with many Nigerians on social media welcoming the reductions as potential relief amid rising transportation costs and inflation.
Some stakeholders, however, caution that frequent fluctuations could complicate long-term planning for marketers operating on tight margins. Nevertheless, market sentiment remains largely positive, with expectations that the latest review could trigger further reductions, particularly if Dangote Refinery expands daily production volumes as projected.
With the new N699 per litre ex-depot price now in effect, Nigerians are closely watching how quickly the benefit translates to retail pump prices and whether this marks the beginning of a more sustained period of price stability in the downstream petroleum sector.
