The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has officially ended its exclusive purchase agreement with Dangote Refinery, allowing other petroleum marketers to buy petrol directly from the refinery. This major development, confirmed today by PREMIUM TIMES, signals a shift toward a more open and competitive market in Nigeria’s fuel supply sector.

Previously, NNPC was the sole off-taker of products from the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, which began processing petrol in September 2024. However, under the new arrangement, marketers will now be able to negotiate prices directly with the refinery on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis—an approach already in place for fully deregulated products such as diesel, aviation fuel, and kerosene.

This change follows earlier concerns raised by the House of Representatives, which called on the federal government to mandate the inclusion of independent marketers in the process of lifting petrol from the refinery. The motion, introduced by Oboku Oforji (PDP, Bayelsa), highlighted that excluding independent marketers was stifling competition in the sector, which could otherwise help lower costs for consumers.

“NNPCL and the major marketers being the exclusive off-takers spells monopoly, which is tantamount to greed,” Oforji said at the time, adding that this exclusion threatened the overall competitiveness of the market.

Despite its initial stance as the exclusive purchaser, NNPCL clarified that the Dangote Refinery had always been free to sell directly to any marketer. However, until now, major petroleum marketers had been the only group approved to lift products under an agreement with NNPCL, with independent marketers left out.

From September 15 to 30, NNPC lifted about 103 million litres of petrol from Dangote Refinery, far below the planned 400 million litres. NNPC had been purchasing petrol from Dangote at N898.78 per litre and selling to marketers at N765.99 per litre, shouldering a subsidy of N133 per litre. The company has now confirmed its withdrawal as the sole off-taker to relieve this financial burden.

An official confirmed the change, stating, “We can no longer continue to bear that burden.”