By Mary Onyia
Dangote Refinery has announced an increase in the retail price of its Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, across the nation, possibly re-igniting fresh price war among players in the oil industry.The latest price increase from Dangote Refinery means Aliko Dangote is no longer keeping his earlier promise to keep petrol prices at or below N740 per litre across Nigeria.
In December last year, Dangote publicly assured Nigerians that the refinery’s retail price of N739 per litre would be sustained nationwide, a move he said was aimed at breaking the grip of fuel importers and stabilising pump prices. “We don’t want people to sell petrol for more than N740 nationwide,” he told journalists during a briefing on Sunday, December 14, 2025.
However, that assurance has apparently been overtaken by prevailing market dynamics, with the refinery citing deregulated pricing mechanisms and cost reflective market conditions as the basis for the upward adjustments. On Monday, the refinery reportedly announced a new pricing template, raising its PMS gantry price to N799 per litre. Retail outlets under its distribution chain, including MRS, will sell at N839 per litre—an increase of N40 per litre from the December price regime. The adjustment effectively ends weeks of relatively cheaper fuel and is expected to ripple across other filling stations nationwide.
The latest development also reopens the long-running friction between Dangote Refinery and regulatory authorities over fuel pricing and market control. Since commencing domestic fuel distribution, the refinery has accused regulators, particularly the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), of undermining local refining through policies it described as favourable to importers.
Dangote had previously warned that continued approval of fuel imports, despite sufficient local refining capacity, distorted the market and made it difficult for domestic producers to offer competitive prices. Regulators, on their part, insisted that price modulation and import approvals were necessary to prevent monopolistic pricing and ensure nationwide supply stability.
The December price slash to N739 per litre was widely seen as Dangote’s strategic counter punch in that dispute, a deliberate price war to edge out importers and assert dominance in the downstream sector. Monday’s increase, however, suggests that sustaining such aggressive pricing amid regulatory pressures, exchange rate volatility, and distribution costs may no longer be viable.
For Nigerians, the reversal underscores a sobering reality: even Africa’s largest refinery is not immune to the structural and regulatory headwinds shaping fuel prices—and promises at the pump remain as volatile as the market itself. Please touch up the third paragraph for me, given reasons for the increment as owing to the market economy in which they operate determining the retail price of fuel.