Contrary to projections last month by the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote that Dangote Refinery would begin the production of petrol between last Saturday and Monday (today), there are indications that that may not be.
But multiple officials close to the development confirmed to The PUNCH on Sunday that all was set for the refinery to begin the production of the much-awaited Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) before the end of this month.
“All is set. The refinery will roll out petrol this month. However, its concern is that the refinery cannot stop for one minute, it needs the constant supply of crude to keep going”, one of the top officials close the refinery said on on Sunday.
However, further findings show that the ongoing crude supply crisis might be a setback to the Dangote oil refinery which is supposed to commence the supply of PMS (popularly called petrol or fuel), into the market today.
This is also as PMS marketers await the sale of the commodity by the refinery this week.
It was gathered that the refinery has put efforts in top gear to roll out petrol this August, even as it awaits 29 million barrels of crude oil from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Reliable sources privy to the development said that the refinery is ready to release petrol this month, regardless of the crude crisis. The sources disclosed that the company is 100 per cent ready to pump out petrol as planned. However, they said the low supply of crude may impact the process.
“I can confirm to you that we will start the sale of PMS this August, though the low supply of crude oil has always been affecting the process. But from the information at my disposal, we are 100 per cent ready for the supply of PMS”, a source stated.
Another informed person said the refinery is still awaiting 29 million barrels of crude oil from the NUPRC.
“The NUPRC is yet to fulfil the supply of the 29 million barrels promised to Dangote. They are still waiting for that. Surprisingly, the 29 million barrels were allocated on paper, they didn’t get to the refinery, yet the NUPRC told the media on Friday that the crude was supplied.
“Dangote refinery needs 15 cargoes for September, only six cargoes have been supplied. Where do you want him to get the remaining nine cargoes? He will have to import again. Though the President said local refineries should buy in naira, but if it is at the international rate. What is the difference”?, she asked.
The PUNCH gathered that, although Dangote will roll out the supply of petrol in August, the product may not be sold locally due to price differential.
Experts familiar with the company stated that the current price being offered by the NNPC Limited for petrol is not competitive for any trader.
“For Dangote to sell to Nigerians, it has to be at a competitive rate. Dangote will source crude at the international rate, how do you expect him to sell at a rate below the cost price? So, it will be better to sell outside the country than to sell in Nigeria at a loss.
“There is a lot of politics in oil and gas, and this is heavily killing Nigeria. Just like former President Olusegun Obasanjo said, those making money from fuel importation are frustrating Dangote”, the expert said anonymously.
Some workers of the refinery who spoke reluctantly to our reporter maintained that all was set for the sale of petrol, but they would not know the exact date and the price.
“I learnt PMS will be out probably by next week, but I don’t know the exact date”, one of the workers disclosed, pleading not to be mentioned because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
The PUNCH reports that the Dangote Refinery engaged in an exchange of words with the NUPRC over the alleged supply of 29 million barrels of crude oil to the refinery.
The Dangote Group Thursday accused the NUPRC of failing to effectively enforce the Domestic Crude Supply Obligations regulations, saying the refinery had yet to get enough crude locally.
Reacting, the NUPRC debunked the claim, stating that it facilitated the supply of over 29 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote from January to June 2024.
The NUPRC argued that it had facilitated the domestic supply of crude oil to Dangote refinery and other refineries using the monthly production curtailment platform.
“A breakdown shows that nine refineries have benefitted from the 32,088,122 barrels of crude as Dangote alone enjoyed 29,047,098 barrels out of the total supply between January to June 2024.”
According to the commission, the Warri refinery reportedly received 949,670 barrels; NDPR refinery got 823,395 barrels of crude; Port Harcourt refinery received 471,123 barrels; Seplat-WPSOL refinery was allocated 419,541 barrels while Waltersmith-WSPOL refinery got 296,353 barrels.
Other beneficiaries listed include the Edo refinery which got 58,504 barrels of crude and Du-port refinery which got 22,438 barrels of crude.
It added that in the pursuit of its mandate, if it became necessary for licences to be withdrawn, the commission would do so, but it would not resort to the ‘presumptuous and arbitrary’ withdrawal of licences because of the ‘sanctity of contract.’
But in a swift response, the Dangote Group also denied receiving 29 million barrels of crude from any source.
Spokesperson of the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, had said: “We receive NUPRC’s statement that they have facilitated the allocation of 29 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals, we would like to thank them for this allocation but at the same time, we wish to let them know that we are yet to receive these cargoes.
“Aside from the term supply we bilaterally negotiated with NNPCL, so far NUPRC has only facilitated the purchase of one crude cargo from a domestic producer. The rest of the cargoes we have processed were purchased from international traders.”
Chiejina added that all the refinery was asking for was for refineries in Nigeria to buy crude directly from the companies that produce it in Nigeria rather than from international middlemen.
“Unfortunately, the NUPRC has effectively admitted in their statement that they will be unable to enforce the domestic crude supply obligation as specified in the PIA, citing ‘sanctity of contracts’ as an excuse,” Chiejina stated.
In a chat on Sunday, the NUPRC spokesperson, Olaide Shonola, told our correspondent that the commission was looking into the claims by the refinery that the allocated 29 million barrels were not received.
