Samson Echenim 
A new fuel price increase announced by Dangote Refinery on Friday has left Nigerians in shock.
As at Friday evening, many filling stations in Lagos and its environs have started selling fuel between N900 and N950 per litre after Dangote Refinery indicated it had increased ex-depot price of premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly known as fuel to N880 per litre.
A pro Forma Invoice sighted by The Nigerian Economy on petroleumprice.ng confirmed the N55 price hike above the previous rate of N825/litre.
“Our people are in shock after we heard about the fuel price increase. Already, we have started buying fuel at N900 to N950 per litre. We were buying it at N875, some filling stations were selling lower at N865 before today’s increase and the filling stations are fast to start selling at the new price,” said Wale Isaac, a transport workers union leader in Mowe, Ogun State.
The hike comes despite global crude prices falling. Brent crude dipped by 3.02% to $76.47, WTI fell to $74.93, and Murban dropped to $76.97 on Friday. The decline in benchmarks offers little relief due to persistent fears of sudden supply disruptions.
According to recent reports, the refinery has increased its reliance on imported U.S. crude and operational costs amid exchange rate instability, which adds to its pricing pressure.
On Thursday, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said his 650,000-barrel capacity refinery is “increasingly” relying on the United States for crude oil.
This came as findings showed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is projected to import a total of 17.65 million barrels of crude oil between April and July 2025, beginning with about 3.65 million barrels already delivered in the past two months, amid ongoing allocations under the Federal Government’s naira-for-crude policy.
