Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals continues to shield the Nigerian market from external price shocks, maintaining stable domestic fuel prices within a commercially acceptable range despite rising international gasoline prices, higher freight rates and tightening global supply conditions that are increasing costs for fuel importers across West Africa, according to the latest market intelligence from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
According to the latest market intelligence published by S&P Global Commodity Insights, importers supplying the Nigerian market are becoming increasingly concerned over the sharp rise in international gasoline prices, with traders attributing the pressure to higher global product values and rising shipping costs.
Significantly, market participants told S&P that gasoline prices in Nigeria are effectively being “capped by Dangote prices”, limiting the ability of importers to pass on higher international costs to the domestic market.
One trader noted that while Ghanaian specification gasoline currently commands higher premiums, Nigerian specification cargoes remain constrained because the Dangote Refinery has kept its coastal sales prices unchanged despite mounting international price pressures.
“Lomé values have risen above Dangote sales prices, which has shut the arbitrage,” a trader was quoted as saying, highlighting that importing fuel into Nigeria has become increasingly uneconomic under prevailing market conditions.
The development comes against the backdrop of a sharp increase in global freight rates. According to S&P Global, the cost of transporting clean petroleum products from Northwest Europe to West Africa has risen from US$29.70 per metric tonne at the end of June to US$37.12 per metric tonne, as vessels reposition
