Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

Economic experts like Bismarck Rewane earlier explained that Nigerians would be the ultimate beneficiaries in the current fuel price war, as they would always get the best deals.

That prediction has turned out to be true in recent weeks, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) and Dangote Refinery constantly adjusting prices to stay ahead in the competition.

However, recent checks show that more players are joining the competition by offering prices lower than those of Dangote Refinery and the NNPC.

Data from petroleumprice.ng shows that Dangote Refinery sold PMS at N840 on Thursday to its partners.

This is the same price offered by some players at the filling station, making them cheaper than the Dangote refinery partners.

The PUNCH report also confirms that prices vary from one state to the other, cheaper in Lagos, and rising as one moves further south due to logistics.

To make the competition more interesting, there are also filling stations selling in the same price range as Dangote Refinery partners.

Checking the prices on Thursday, Dangote Refinery partners MRS and Heyden were seen to be selling at N890 and N885 per litre in Ogun state.

Interestingly, several filling stations in Ogun state, particularly along the Sagamu-Benin and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressways, were selling below the Dangote Refinery partners.

Recall that Dangote Refinery immediately announced a price cut after the federal government made its decision to continue with the naira-for-crude deal.

Landing cost of imported fuel dropped subsequently, but the local refinery dropped its prices below to stay ahead.

There has also been several price cuts since then, but a report from S&P Global suggested that the price cuts are not attractive enough to stop fuel importation into Nigeria, the PUNCH reports.

S&P Global's report said the price cuts from Dangote Refinery were not commensurate with the global fall in prices.

Examining the reasons why fuel importation continues despite local production, the report said;

“Incentives to ship products to West Africa have also come from the pricing at Nigeria’s Dangote refinery. While flat prices have been driven down massively amid falling crude prices, Dangote has not lowered gantry prices for truck volumes significantly.

“Between April 1 and April 9, the Eurobob M1 swap fell from $734.25 per metric tonne to $603/MT, a 17.9 per cent fall, before recovering somewhat. But over the same period, Dangote’s truck price at the gantry dropped just 1.7 per cent from N880/litre to N865/litre (and later N835).

In related news, Legit.ng earlier reported that marketers rushed to import 156 million litres, taking advantage of a major drop in landing costs.

This huge supply was expected to trigger a crash in fuel prices, making it cheaper than the Dangote Refinery price.

The competition between importers of fuel and the Dangote Refinery continued to trigger more price drops, week after week.

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Source: Legit.ng