The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has clarified that the Dangote refinery is still at the pre-commissioning stage and has not been licensed.
Addressing state house correspondents on Thursday, Farouk Ahmed, the CEO of NMDPRA, highlighted ongoing concerns regarding the nationwide supply of petroleum products.
“Well, just like you rightly asked, there are lots of concerns about the supply of petroleum products nationwide and the claims by some media houses that we were trying to scuttle Dangote refinery; that is not so,” Ahmed said. “Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licensed yet. We have not licensed them yet. I think they are at about 45 percent completion.”
Ahmed emphasized that it is impractical to rely solely on one refinery to meet the nation’s petroleum needs, especially since Dangote has requested a halt to all importation of petroleum products, including automotive gas oil (AGO) and jet kerosene, directing all marketers to the refinery.
“This is not good for the nation in terms of energy security and also not good for markets because of monopoly,” he stated.
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Ahmed also pointed out the quality concerns, noting, “In terms of quality, currently, the AGO quality in terms of sulphur is the lowest as far as West Africa’s requirement of 50 ppm. Dangote refinery as well as some major refineries like Waltersmith refinery, produce between 650 to 1200 ppm. So, in terms of quality, their quality is much more inferior to the imported quality.”
On June 4, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, mentioned that some international oil companies (IOCs) were struggling to supply crude to his refinery. However, on July 15, Gbenga Komolafe, CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), described this claim as “erroneous,” stating that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has provisions that guide willing buyer-willing seller transactions.
Despite this, on July 17, the management of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) insisted that IOCs are frustrating its request to purchase crude feedstock for the Dangote refinery.
