Sunday, January 4, 2026 - Private petroleum depots across Lagos and other key fuel trading hubs have raised the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to as high as N800 per litre, Sunday according to Punch
Data obtained from petroleumprice.ng on Saturday showed that
the average cost of petrol at private depots increased sharply within 48 hours,
tightening margins for marketers and raising fresh concerns over an imminent
spike in retail pump prices nationwide.
In Lagos, Dangote depot, which consistently offers the
lowest petrol price sold PMS at N703 per litre on Friday, up from N702.50 on
Wednesday, December 31, 2025. While the increase at Dangote was marginal, other
private depots recorded steeper adjustments.
Eterna and Integrated depots raised petrol prices to N800
per litre on Friday, compared with N726 per litre at Shellplux and AIPEC
earlier in the week, indicating a jump of N74 per litre within two days.
Similarly, Aiteo and Lister depots sold petrol at N780 per
litre, up from N750–N760 band recorded on Wednesday.
The impact was more pronounced in Warri, one of the
country’s key petroleum logistics hubs.
While Matrix Energy and other major depots sold petrol at
N800 per litre on Wednesday, prices climbed to as high as N805 per litre by
Friday, according to the report.
The Warri market reacted faster due to tighter supply lines
and higher transportation costs, especially as marketers reposition volumes
ahead of anticipated scarcity.
Last December, Dangote Petroleum Refinery reduced its petrol
gantry price, slashing the ex-depot rate from N828 to N699 per litre.
The new price took effect on December 11, 2025, marking the
20th petrol price adjustment announced by the refinery this year.
Market operators linked the price surge to the shutdown of
the petrol unit at the Dangote Refinery, which had recently become a major
domestic supplier of PMS, helping to moderate prices following the removal of
fuel subsidies.
Commenting, the Chief Executive Officer of
petroleumprice.ng, Jeremiah Olatide, said the latest increase was a calculated
response by importers seeking to recover losses recorded in December.
He explained that importers were hit hard by the aggressive
price slash by the Dangote Refinery, which sold petrol at about N699 per litre,
forcing many private players to sell below their landing costs.
“This price uptick is a deliberate move by importers to
recoup losses from the massive price slash by the Dangote Refinery in
December,” Olatide said.
He added that marketers were already factoring in potential
supply tightness in January due to the ongoing upgrade at the Dangote Refinery,
a development they believe could limit domestic supply temporarily.
“Importers are postulating that there may be supply
constraints in January because of the refinery’s plant upgrade, and they see
this as an opportunity to make up for December losses,” he noted.
According to him, some depot operators are deliberately
holding back volumes in storage, waiting to sell at prices above their landing
costs once any supply disruption emerges.
“They are keeping products in tank, hoping to sell above
their landing cost as soon as there is a supply glitch,” Olatide said.
However, he cautioned that the strategy may not hold for
long, noting that the Dangote Refinery could respond aggressively once supply
normalises.
“We will see how the new pricing plays out, but there will
likely be a fightback from the refinery,” he added.
With Dangote’s supply temporarily curtailed, private depot
owners have begun repricing available stock, citing replacement costs, foreign
exchange volatility and uncertainty around import schedules.
The petroleumprice.ng report also noted that Brent crude
closed at $60.20 per barrel on Friday, while the naira continued to weaken at
the parallel market, trading at N1,495/$, compared with N1,475/$ on Wednesday,
further adding pressure to fuel pricing.
Depot price movements typically precede changes at filling
stations, and industry watchers warn that the current trend could push retail
petrol prices beyond N700 per litre in several cities if sustained.
Petrol marketers said margins had been compressed by
logistics costs, financing challenges and volatile exchange rates, making depot
price increases difficult to absorb without adjusting pump prices.
Since the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum
sector, petrol prices in Nigeria have been determined by market forces,
including crude prices, exchange rates, logistics and supply availability.
The Dangote Refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per
day, had raised expectations of price stability through local refining.
However, its temporary petrol unit shutdown has exposed the fragility of supply
dynamics, especially as imports remain costly.
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