Daud Olatunji
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has clarified that the Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage and has not yet been licensed.
Farouk Ahmed, the CEO of NMDPRA, made this announcement while addressing state house correspondents on Thursday, responding to concerns about the national supply of petroleum products and the status of the refinery.
Ahmed stated that the Dangote refinery, touted as a potential game-changer for Nigeria’s oil industry, is only about 45% complete.
“Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licensed yet. We have not licensed them yet,” he said, countering claims that the NMDPRA was hindering the refinery’s progress.
He further explained that the reliance on a single refinery to meet national demand is not feasible, especially given the current completion status.
“Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop all importation of petroleum products, especially automotive gas oil (AGO) or jet kero, and direct all marketers to the refinery,” Ahmed noted.
He warned that such a move would be detrimental to the nation’s energy security and could lead to a monopoly in the market.
Quality concerns were also raised by Ahmed.
He pointed out that the quality of AGO produced by the Dangote refinery, along with other major refineries like Waltersmith, is inferior compared to imported products.
“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,” he said.
The challenges faced by the Dangote refinery were highlighted earlier by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, who stated that some international oil companies (IOCs) were struggling to supply crude to the refinery.
This claim was later described as “erroneous” by Gbenga Komolafe, CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), who referenced the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provisions that guide willing buyer-willing seller transactions.
Despite these reassurances, the management of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) maintained on July 17 that IOCs are frustrating their attempts to secure crude feedstock for the refinery.
Komolafe said the completion and successful commissioning of the Dangote refinery are critical to Nigeria’s ambition to reduce its dependency on imported refined petroleum products.
However, the current challenges and delays suggest that a significant amount of work remains before the refinery can begin operations and contribute to the nation’s energy supply.
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