Khadijah Aliyu
Amidst lingering crisis, Dangote Refinery has revealed that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, is supplying insufficient crude oil for its production demand, hence it is planning to source from brazil and America.
The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, alongside NNPCL, had been locked in a dispute, ranging from monopoly allegations to supply of crude for the refinery, substandard fuel imports and ownership of blending plants in Malta.
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However, Dangote, in a new revelation, said for the $20 billion refinery to meet its production demand, it must look for other sources of crude oil supply overseas as the NNPCL allocation is insufficient.
He said the refinery, which has the capacity of refining 650,000 per day, could not defend on short supply from the Nigeria’s oil company.
Rabiu A. Umar, Group Chief Commercial Officer, Dangote Industries Limited, told newsmen in Kano on Friday that NNPC supplies only 33 percent of of crude to the refinery, disclosing that it had to look elsewhere to source the remaining 67 percent to meet its production capacity.
According to Umar, the refinery had concluded plans to supply crude oil from Brazil and America by August.
“First of all the refinery is here in Nigeria. We have the crude oil here in Nigeria. We thought we would get the crude oil here and refined it here in our refinery for the benefit of the country and the citizens.
“Ironically, the country takes the crude oil overseas for refining while we have a refinery, one of the biggest in the world.
“So, we will not stay idle. We have to look for other sources to meet our production capacity. If we get the crude oil supply here in the country we have no reason to go overseas.
“Even now, we are planning to supply crude oil from countries like Brazil and USA,” he said.
He said the refinery had commenced supplies to foreign countries since February, disclosing that they receive orders from different countries for supply, especially aviation fuel.
The Chief Commercial Officer also revealed that the refinery needs 15 cargos of crude oil in September but NNPCL promised only 5 to it, lamenting that they see the government’s lackadaisical actions towards the refinery as sabotage.
According to him, the refinery should be celebrated and embraced by the government rather than painting it black as it is the biggest employer of labour with over 50,000 workers at the moment.
He emphasized that against the government’s false narratives, the refinery had started on a positive note as the quality of its refined products are would standard.
He said even the House of Representatives, under the leadership of the its speaker, visited the refinery, saw the difference and was satisfied with the quality of the products.
The official also said, “we are here to defend ourselves and all the government narratives are not true. We urge the people to take samples of our products to ascertain their quality.
“We will not be deterred by the government’s criticism. We will continue until we reach the promised land.
A business analyst In Kano, Abdussalam Kani, on his part demanded for apology to Dangote by the federal government and the national Assembly.
He also levelled the NMDPRA boss, Ahmed Farouk’s comments against the refinery treasonable offence that deserve punishment .