The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has announced the suspension of petrol sales in naira, a move that has unsettled marketers and raised fresh concerns about fuel pricing and foreign exchange pressure.
In an email sent to its customers at exactly 6:42 pm on Friday, the refinery disclosed that the decision would take effect from Sunday, September 28, 2025, citing the exhaustion of its crude-for-naira allocation as the reason.
The notice, signed by the Group Commercial Operations of Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals, was titled “Suspension of DPRP PMS Naira Sales – Effective 28th September 2025”.
The company also asked customers with ongoing naira-based transactions to formally request refunds. This is not the first time the refinery has suspended local currency transactions. In March 2025, Dangote had briefly halted sales of refined products in naira, insisting that its allocations under the crude-for-naira programme were inadequate to meet growing domestic demand.
The decision then sparked concerns over the dollarisation of fuel sales in Nigeria, leading to prices at the pump rising to almost N1,000 per litre.
Analysts warn that the latest move could again trigger volatility in the downstream sector, with concerns about a potential increase in petrol prices if transactions are predominantly shifted to dollars.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum price.ng, Jeremiah Olatide, warned that petrol prices could soar above N900 per litre, noting that the Dangote Refinery had been instrumental in keeping pump prices lower in recent months