News Update
THE Dangote refinery reduced its ex-gantry petrol price to ₦1,075 per litre on Tuesday, representing a ₦100 drop from the previous rate of ₦1,175 per litre.
Dangote Group’s Chief Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, told Channels Television on the phone that petrol supplied through coastal distribution will now sell at ₦1,050 per litre.
The Dangote refinery said the price of diesel has also been reduced to ₦1,430 per litre, representing a ₦190 drop from the prior price of ₦1,620 per litre.
This marks the first price cut after three successive hikes that had pushed the cost of the commodity significantly higher in recent weeks.
On Monday, the refinery increased the price of petrol to ₦1,175 per litre, up from ₦995 per litre on March 7 and ₦874 per litre on March 2.
On March 9, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the refinery, David Bird, said the Dangote refinery was not immune to global oil shocks as it secures its crude on international benchmarks.
The Dangote Refinery’s reduction in the cost of the essential commodity comes as crude oil prices dropped to $90 a barrel on Tuesday, the first decline since the war in the Middle East began.
The war involving the United States (US), Iran, and Israel raised global oil prices, leading to a hike in petrol prices in Nigeria.
As the crisis in the crude-rich Middle East continued into a second week, with seemingly little sign of a conclusion on the horizon, US President Donald Trump said that the campaign was far ahead of his initial timeline of around a month.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, and they’ve got no air force,” Trump told CBS News by phone.
“If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense,” he added.
Trump told the US broadcaster that the United States was “very far” ahead of his initially stated wartime frame of four or five weeks.
He later told a news conference in Florida that “it’s going to be ended soon, and if it starts up again, they’ll be hit even harder”.
When asked if he thought the war could end in days or weeks, he replied, “I think soon. Very soon.”