The Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has said that it has never accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) of not supplying crude to its 650,000 barrels per day capacity Dangote refinery located at Free Zone, Lekki,Lagos State which was built with about $20 billion.
It stated that its concern has always been the alleged reluctance of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to enforce the domestic crude supply obligation and ensure that DIL received its full crude requirement from NNPC and the international oil companies ( IOCs).
These were contained in a statement issued on Thursday by Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, DIL, Anthony Chiejina.
The statement titled, “Dangote clarifies its stand on crude supply to its Refinery,” reads, “Our attention has been drawn to media reports alleging that the Dangote Refinery has backtracked by acknowledging that NNPC supplied about 60% of the 50 million barrels we lifted.
“To clarify, we have never accused NNPC of not supplying us with crude. Our concern has always been NUPRC’s reluctance to enforce the domestic crude supply obligation and ensure that we receive our full crude requirement from NNPC and the IOCs.
“For September, our requirement is 15 cargoes, of which NNPC allocated six. Despite appealing to NUPRC, we’ve been unable to secure the remaining cargoes.
“When we approached IOCs producing in Nigeria, they redirected us to their international trading arms or responded that their cargoes were committed.”
He added: “Consequently, we often purchase the same Nigerian crude from international traders at an additional $3-$4 premium per barrel which translates to $3-$4 million per cargo
“We therefore still insist that we are unable to secure our full crude requirement from domestic production and urge NUPRC to fully enforce the domestic crude supply obligation as mandated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).”
