Mohammed Shosanya
Dangote Petroleum Refinery is planning to source crude oil from Brazil and America,due to inadequate supply for its production demand by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC).
Rabiu A. Umar, Group Chief Commercial Officer, Dangote Industries Limited,told newsmen in Kano on Saturday that NNPC supplies only 33 percent of of crude to the refinery, adding that it had to look elsewhere to source the remaining 67 percent to meet its production capacity.
According to him,the refinery had concluded plans to supply crude oil from Brazil and America by August.
He added:“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.
According to him,the refinery has commenced supplies to foreign countries since February, disclosing that they receive orders from different countries for supply, especially aviation fuel.
He also disclosed 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.
He added:“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.”
Meanwhile,Dangote Petroleum Refinery has said, it is not true the allegations that it is reselling shipments of crude oil.
A Reuters report had suggested that the company is experiencing operational issues at the plant.
The report claimed that due to technical problems, the refinery was reselling crude oil from the United States and Nigeria.
Reuters quoted sources that the refinery was offering various grades of crude, including US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland and Nigerian Escravos and Forcados crudes. The report also suggested that such reselling practices, though rare, are not unprecedented.
Faulting the report, Anthony Chiejina, Chief Branding and Communication Officer for Dangote Group, said the claims are false.
“Our attention has been drawn to a misleading report on our crude distillation unit and the allegation that we are offering crude for resale,” Chiejina stated.
He emphasised that the refinery is not authorised to sell any of the crudes it acquires from Nigeria and affirmed that the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) is operating efficiently.
Chiejina also urged the public to disregard what he termed as false narratives intended to discredit the refinery.
The controversy surrounding the refinery has escalated amid ongoing regulatory disputes. On June 4, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest individual, revealed difficulties with international oil companies (IOCs) in supplying crude to the refinery.