The Federal Government has scheduled a national forum for July 23 and 24, 2025, to tackle the persistent challenges surrounding petrol pricing and supply within Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
This initiative, prompted by increasing discontent among independent marketers, aims to bring stakeholders together to establish pricing consistency and supply stability in a deregulated environment.
Organised by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the summit will gather representatives from refining companies, fuel marketers, industry regulators, and government bodies. The key focus will be on developing a reliable pricing framework, addressing feedstock availability, and enhancing overall market efficiency following the fuel subsidy removal.
Francis Ogaree, Executive Director of Hydrocarbon Processing at the NMDPRA, confirmed the summit’s date during a panel session at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Energy Week in Abuja. “We are engaging stakeholders… to allay fears and set standards,” he said, noting that resolving pricing concerns is critical as Nigeria navigates its post-subsidy reality.
Fuel retailers have been especially vocal, citing erratic petrol pricing without prior notice particularly from Dangote refinery as damaging to their businesses. Billy Gillis-Harry, President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, advocated for pricing transparency, warning that unexpected drops in prices hurt dealers who had purchased stock at higher rates.
Gillis-Harry also urged the government to put mechanisms in place that can track and explain pricing shifts. “We need transparency and fairness to protect operators from losses,” he said.
His concerns were echoed by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, which alleged that marketers are inflating pump prices, insisting that the current cost of petrol should be capped between N700 and N750 per litre.
Ogaree responded by acknowledging the difficulties operators face and said the NMDPRA has begun working on pricing standardisation to bring clarity and stability to the market. He stated, “We’ve made significant progress in licensing refiners and are actively addressing industry concerns.”
Providing insight into Nigeria’s refining landscape, Ogaree disclosed that the country now has ten functional or nearly completed refineries, including the three Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) facilities, the 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote refinery, and six modular plants.
However, he cautioned that meeting future refining demands would depend heavily on feedstock availability, especially as 47 new refining licenses have already been issued and several new facilities are expected to come on stream by 2026.
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