As the corporation refuted charges of lower fuel output, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, is awaiting new reports to validate the true sulphur content of the diesel generated by the Dangote refinery.
In an interview on Sunday, NMDPRA spokesman George Ene-Ita stated that the organization had completed its task and that it would not take sides in the media regarding Farouk Ahmed, the NMDPRA Chief Executive, who claimed that Dangote’s fuel was higher in sulfur than foreign diesel.
Ene-Ita reports that the authority has approximately fifteen engineers and scientists stationed at the Dangote refinery. A new report regarding the refinery’s sulfur content is scheduled to be released on Monday, which is today. According to Ahmed, the diesel from the Dangote refinery contains a high sulphur content.
Reacting to Dangote’s allegations that the NMDPRA was giving licenses to some traders to import dirty fuel into Nigeria last week, Ahmed argued that it was the Dangote fuel that had a larger content of sulphur.
He also said the refinery, which has been selling diesel and aviation fuel in Nigeria for months, had yet to be licensed, stating that it was still at the pre-commissioning stage.
“The claim by some media houses that there were steps to scuttle the Dangote refinery is not so. The Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licensed yet; we haven’t licensed them yet. They are still in the pre-commissioning phase. I think they have about 45 percent completion,” Ahmed declared.
The NMDPRA boss warned that Nigeria could not rely heavily on the Dangote refinery for its fuel supply.
According to him, the refinery had requested the regulator stop giving import licenses to other marketers so as to be the only fuel supplier in Nigeria.
“We cannot rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation because Dangote is requesting that we suspend or stop importation of all petroleum products, especially AGO and direct all marketers to the refinery, That is not good for the nation in terms of energy security. And that is not good for the market because of monopolies,” he stressed.
Speaking about quality, he said, “So, in terms of quality, currently the AGO quality in terms of sulphur is the lowest as far as the West African requirement of 50 ppm is concerned.
“Dangote refinery and some modular refineries, like Waltersmith refinery and Aradel refinery, are producing between 650 and 1,200ppm. So, in terms of quality, their product is much inferior to the imported quality,” he alleged.
Reacting during a tour of the refinery by members of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, over the weekend, Dangote asserted that products refined at the world’s largest single-train refinery are of superior quality compared to the imported fuel.
The speaker and other members had observed the testing of automotive gas oil from two petrol stations alongside the same taken from the Dangote refinery.
The diesel samples were procured from two well-known filling stations near Eleko junction along the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos, by the lawmakers.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Downstream, Ikeagwunon Ugochinyere, and the Chairman of the House Committee on Midstream, Okojie Odianosen, oversaw the collection of samples from the Mild Hydro Cracking unit of the Dangote refinery for testing of all the samples.
The Dangote laboratory tests were said to have revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm, while the other two samples showed sulphur levels exceeding 1,800 ppm and 2,000 ppm, respectively.
