By Abuja’s Obas Esiedesa and Udeme Akpan, Energy Editor

On Monday, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, or PETROAN, demanded that the price of premium motor spirit, often referred to as petrol, that it plans to import be less than the going cost in the nation.

Dr. Joseph Obele, the group’s national public relations officer, stated in a statement that a deregulated environment must permit competition.

According to Obele, the organisation has established a business unit that will allow it to import petrol before December.

It denied Dangote Refinery’s accusation that the marketers plan to import inferior goods at a lower cost, stating that the allegations were not unexpected.

Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited has responded to claims that it does not participate in the mixing of inferior petroleum products in the vicinity of the Dangote Refinery.

Additionally, PETROAN said that until the refinery issued a press release, it was unaware of the price of fuel from Dangote Refinery.

“The best value for money exchange for a commodity is brought about by intense or aggressive competition in any market,” Obele said. Competition should be promoted since consumers receive the greatest pricing when it is at its highest.

Such a market will be exploitative and only focused on profits, in contrast to competition.

Such a market will be exploitative and only focused on profits, in contrast to competition.

“An international trading company newly recruited a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, to use it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher-quality production,” said Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief for Branding and Communications at Dangote, in a statement earlier.

“This is harmful to Nigeria’s local refining industry’s expansion. We should note that nations frequently defend their home sectors in order to create jobs and boost their economies. For instance, in order to safeguard their home sectors, the US and Europe have had to slap hefty tariffs on microchips and EVs.

Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, which is near the Dangote refinery, responded to this by stating that it does not participate in the mixing of inferior petroleum products.

“Deregulated commodity markets function best with an open system of multiple sellers and multiple buyers bidding to establish the market price,” the company’s CEO, Bob Dickerman, stated in a statement. The process that would set the lowest sustainable costs is for Nigeria to have supply alternatives that include imports or domestic refineries. Additionally, a free market is controlled to guarantee that all goods fulfil national standards and that all participants act appropriately.