Private Depots Raise Petrol Prices Above N1,200 After Dangote Refinery Suspends Gantry Loading
Private fuel depot owners across Nigeria have increased petrol prices to between N1,200 and N1,230 per litre following a halt in gantry loading operations at Dangote Petroleum Refinery. The suspension, which began around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 13, 2026, came after the refinery decided to switch from naira to dollar pricing for petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel at the gantry.
Data from Petroleumprice.ng, a platform monitoring downstream petroleum market activity, showed that depots in Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt, and Calabar revised their ex-depot prices on Thursday. In Lagos, Aiteo and NIPCO depots are selling petrol at N1,200 per litre. In Warri, Optima raised its price to N1,220, while A.Y.M. Shafa quoted N1,230. Liquid Bulk and Sigmund depots in Port Harcourt, as well as Mainland Depot in Calabar, are all pricing petrol at N1,230 per litre.
Industry Reactions and Pricing Risks
A Lagos-based depot operator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that marketers are pricing in the risk of higher replacement costs once the refinery resumes and resets its ex-depot price. "When the gantry goes quiet, everybody down the chain starts marking up. Nobody wants to be caught selling old stock at old prices when the replacement cost resets higher," the operator said.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, warned that any rise in refinery operating costs would pass through to pump prices. He urged the federal government to sustain the naira-for-crude arrangement introduced in October 2024 to support local refining, cautioning that the shift to dollar-denominated sales could trigger further increases at filling stations.
Experts Warn of Dollarisation and Long-Term Solutions
The President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry, warned that the policy risked gradually dollarising the domestic fuel market as marketers passed foreign exchange costs on to consumers. Muda Yusuf, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), noted that pricing in dollars was commercially logical for a refinery that buys most of its crude in foreign currency. However, he stressed that Nigeria's lasting solution lay in increasing domestic crude supply and stabilising the naira.
NMDPRA Assures Nigerians of Fuel Supply Stability
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has reassured Nigerians that the country has enough petroleum products to meet current demand. The regulator explained that supplies of premium motor spirit (petrol), automotive gas oil (diesel), and liquefied petroleum gas (cooking gas) remain stable across the country. According to the authority, fuel is being supplied through a combination of local refining and imports, with continuous distribution to depots and filling stations to maintain steady availability nationwide.
