The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is ready to begin selling Premium Motor Spirit, also known as fuel. This comes just a few days after the 650,000-capacity refinery conducted a test run of the product. Industry sources confirmed to our correspondent that the product would be released soon.
According to the individuals, who asked to remain anonymous, the government and the Dangote Group were negotiating the product’s distribution terms.
A government source stated that the sale and distribution of the PMS is being handled by the Federal Government. According to the source, only the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is currently licensed to distribute Dangote fuel.
Recall that petrol from the Dangote refinery was meant to have been available since June, but the refinery had a crude scarcity and got into a fight with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, which accused the facility of manufacturing substandard diesel.
The Federal Government’s intervention, requiring crude oil to be provided to the refinery in local currency, appears to be producing the desired results. notes that Dangote and other local refineries have regularly accused international oil corporations of failing to sell petroleum to local refiners. Recently, the Federal Government declared that the crude oil supply agreement would begin in October.
The Dangote Group’s management further claimed that the IOCs insisted on supplying crude oil to its refinery through foreign agents, claiming that the local crude price would continue to rise because the trading arms offered cargoes at $2 to $4 per barrel, which was higher than the NUPRC official pricing.
The group also said that international oil companies appear to prioritise Asian countries when selling crude produced in Nigeria. Last month, the Dangote refinery exchanged words with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission over the purported supply of 29 million barrels of crude oil to the plant.
The Dangote Group accused the NUPRC of failing to adequately implement the Domestic Crude Supply Obligations legislation, claiming 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. 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, said, “We received 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.
Nigerians are hopeful that Dangote will crash the pump price of PMS.
