Petrol supply disruptions and another round of pump-price increases hit Abuja on Monday, forcing the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and MRS retail outlets to shut their doors as competing stations adjusted prices again in less than a week.
Retail closures and a fresh rise in pump prices
Several filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory raised their petrol pump prices for a second time within a week, intensifying pressure on consumers and retailers.
- NNPCL and MRS outlets in major parts of Abuja were without petrol as of Monday night.
- Ranoil, Empire and other marketers in the capital increased pump prices by about N55 to N60, taking the retail rate to roughly N1,275 to N1,280 per litre at the close of business on Monday.
- Depot operators also lifted their ex-depot prices to around N1,249 to N1,270 per litre by Monday night.
- With the latest adjustments, major filling-station pricing has moved upward by at least N100 per litre in under a week.
Link to Dangote Refinery’s dollar sales and wider market uncertainty
The latest price moves come shortly after Dangote Refinery restarted the sale of refined petroleum products in dollars, a shift that has raised concerns about access to naira-priced supply for downstream operators.
- Dangote Refinery, which runs a 700,000-barrel-per-day facility, set its petrol gantry price at $0.779 per litre, diesel at $1.087 per litre, and aviation fuel at $0.942 per litre.
- The refinery said the gantry prices were unchanged, but some petroleum marketers alleged that the plant had paused product loading.
- Two managers at MRS filling stations in Abuja, speaking on condition of anonymity, said their outlets had been out of petrol since Thursday of the previous week.
- Fuel attendants at NNPCL retail sites confirmed that their stations ran out of supply on Monday afternoon.
- The disruptions add to downstream-sector uncertainty that has been building over the past week.
Industry reaction: calls for government action and naira-for-crude talks
Industry groups said the volatility is being driven by global crude-price uncertainty and the refinery’s resumption of dollar-denominated sales, urging immediate intervention to prevent the market from shifting further into dollar pricing.
- PETROAN National President Billy Gillis-Harry said the government should not “sit on the fence” over petrol pricing and called for urgent protection for consumers from the latest increases.
- Gillis-Harry argued that many members are unable to load products in dollars and said the downstream sector should not be “dollarised.”
- IPMAN spokesperson Chinedu Ukadike said the Federal Government should restart discussions with Dangote Refinery to sell refined products in naira by reactivating the naira-for-crude arrangement.
- Ukadike said some member stations have closed because operators could not obtain supply in naira and warned that the situation could worsen if talks do not resume quickly.
What changed in the naira-for-crude arrangement, and the administration’s silence
While Dangote Refinery has not publicly detailed why it paused naira-based sales, industry sources pointed to implementation problems around the naira-for-crude framework.
- Industry sources linked the suspension of naira sales to issues in applying the naira-for-crude deal.
- Officials, speaking anonymously, said Dangote Refinery receives four million barrels of crude allocation monthly from NNPCL, rather than the 13 million barrels referenced under the naira-for-crude arrangement.
NNPCL disputed any suggestion that it is withholding crude supply under the program.
- NNPCL spokesperson Andy Odey said the company had “allocated 100 per cent of all available naira crude cargoes to DPRP in 2026” and that there had been “no withholding” by NNPCL.
Meanwhile, the Tinubu administration has not commented publicly on the disruption, even as Nigerians continue to experience the effects of the latest petrol-price hike.
- DAILY POST reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has remained silent on the development.
- Tinubu, who also serves as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources, launched the naira-for-crude deal with Dangote Refinery in 2024, aiming to shield Nigerians from global energy price swings.
- The most recent government meeting with downstream stakeholders took place in the first week of July and focused on cost-reflective petrol pricing.
Global crude backdrop
Rising global crude prices have also been cited as part of the pressure behind higher local fuel costs. As of Monday night, West Texas Intermediate crude traded above $82 per barrel, while Brent crude was above $87 per barrel.
