Private fuel depot operators in Lagos are engaged in an aggressive price war, repeatedly slashing ex-depot rates within single trading days to undercut the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and capture a larger share of a market flush with supply.
Market data from BusinessDay shows several depots have moved below Dangote’s petrol price of ₦1,253 per litre. Ardova, Aiteo, African Terminal, Integrated, and Aipec are loading at ₦1,251, while Bono, Quest, and Ascon are offering ₦1,252.
Only Techno Oil, at ₦1,254, sits above the refinery’s rate.
The diesel segment remains highly competitive as Dangote holds the competitive edge at ₦1,701 per litre, with rivals pricing higher — Ibeto and Aipec at ₦1,703, Swift at ₦1,704, and African Terminal, Duport, Nipco, and Menj at ₦1,705.
The pricing pressure reflects a broader shift in Nigeria’s downstream sector since deregulation. Dangote’s 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery has significantly reduced the country’s dependence on imported fuel, but the same supply growth that strengthened domestic refining has armed marketers with more sourcing alternatives.
In that environment, a ₦1 or ₦2 difference per litre is enough to redirect bulk purchases.
Industry sources say price alone does not determine where marketers load.
Logistics efficiency, product availability, and credit terms are all factors — but the willingness of depots to reprice multiple times in a day signals how thin margins have become and how fiercely operators are competing for volume.
Analysts expect Dangote to respond with further gantry price reductions, continuing a pattern of downward adjustments in recent weeks driven partly by softer global crude benchmarks. Any cuts at the depot level would likely filter through to retail pumps, where prices have already begun easing in parts of Lagos and other states — a development that offers some relief to households, transporters, and businesses that depend on fuel for power generation amid Nigeria’s persistent cost-of-living pressures.
Prices remain subject to rapid change, tied to global oil markets, exchange rate movements, and daily supply conditions.
Administrator and Writer
