Nigeria Dangote refinery raises gasoline price by 14pc

Spanish Market: Oil products
27/01/26

Nigeria's privately-owned 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery has raised the price of its gasoline by 14pc, and told local buyers that purchase agreements are no longer valid.

Dangote said on Monday the new price is 799 naira/litre (56¢/l). It had cut prices over the Christmas period, the seasonal peak in Nigerian gasoline demand, "to cushion Nigerians at a time of heightened household spending", it said. Local fuel brokers reported gasoline priced around N700/l between 12 December-26 January.

Also on Monday Dangote cancelled purchase agreements that were based on its previous pricing levels, market participants said.

A trader told Argus a gasoline supply deal it struck with Dangote last week at 699n/l, with truck loadings scheduled for this week, was annulled by Dangote yesterday as it was preparing to send trucks to lift the product from the refinery.

Dangote's December price cut broadly eroded gasoline arbitrage economics to Nigeria from Europe. The new higher price would make imports more competitive, according to some market participants, although others said this was contingent on issuance of import permits by Nigeria's downstream regulatory NMDPRA, which is looking unlikely.

Argus previously reported the regulator had not issued any gasoline import permits for 2026, as it wants to limit these to covering expected shortfalls in domestic refinery output.

Dangote refinery chief executive David Bird said yesterday the site "continues to supply the domestic market with approximately 50mn l (37,750 t/d) of [gasoline] daily". The regulator said Dangote supplied 24,170 t/d in December, noting this was below its planned 37,750 t/d. A Dangote spokesman said the refinery has been offering 37,500 t/d since December, but noted in principle that marketers' offtake is not necessarily the same as volume offered.

Bird said gasoline supply could continue during planned maintenance, but did not say if any planned or unplanned works were underway. NMDPRA said on 11 January that the refinery's gasoline-yielding residual fluid catalytic cracker (RFCC) was offline.

Four low-sulphur straight run (LSSR) fuel oil cargoes totalling 358,000t loaded from Dangote in 4-20 January, according to Kpler. This is the highest since 534,000t in September 2025, when Dangote's RFCC had works scheduled.

A source at the refinery told Argus it plans to shut its crude distillation unit (CDU) for a week, probably this week. The CDU was offline as of Monday, a trader told Argus, but this was unconfirmed.

Benchmark non-oxy gasoline barge cracks to Ice Brent were $9.17/bl at the time of writing, down from $9.23/bl at the close of the Monday session.

By George Maher-Bonnett and Adebiyi Olusolape

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26/01/26

US Citgo sale hangs in the balance

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US braces for gas freeze-offs, ice storm

23/01/26

US braces for gas freeze-offs, ice storm

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Venezuelan crude flows threaten US HSFO gains

23/01/26

Venezuelan crude flows threaten US HSFO gains

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Mutmaßlich betrügerische Anrufer bieten Billigdiesel an

22/01/26

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Trump withdraws EU, UK tariff threat

21/01/26

Trump withdraws EU, UK tariff threat

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