Dangote invites NNPCL to buy refinery out of frustration
Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote on Sunday indicated his willingness to give up ownership of the multibillion-dollar Dangote refinery to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Many Nigerians have at the weekend expressed concern over the new dimension the brawl between the Dangote Group and regulatory authorities in the oil and gas industry have taken over the operations of the Dangote refinery.
Aliko Dangote, had alleged that local and foreign interests, which he likened to a “mafia”, made repeated attempts to thwart his refinery’s completion.
A few days afterwards, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) alleged that the Dangote Refinery was producing inferior products compared to imported ones.
Farouk Ahmed, who is the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, alleged that the quality of diesel produced by the refinery was 665 ppm, which he considered inferior, warning therefore that Nigeria may not rely heavily on the Dangote refinery for its fuel supply.
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He also said that the refinery has not been licenced to begin operations in the country.
Ahmed made this known while speaking with journalists at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.
He also denied allegations that the regulatory body was attempting to scuttle the operations of the private refinery due to lack of crude oil supply from international oil companies (IOCs).
In an exclusive interview he granted to PREMIUM TIMES, however, Africa’s richest man said: “Let them (NNPCL) buy me out and run the refinery the best way they can. They have labelled me a monopolist. That’s an incorrect and unfair allegation, but it’s OK. If they buy me out, at least, their so-called monopolist would be out of the way”.
The 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote refinery, which cost about $19 billion, was commissioned last year, and it had shown promise of helping to tackle Nigeria’s huge reliance on fuel on importation of refined petroleum products, thereby saving the country about 30 per cent of the total foreign exchange spent on imports.
Speaking further in the exclusive interview, Aliko said: “We have been facing fuel crisis since the 70s. This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So, I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery.”
Why regulatory agencies accuse Dangote of monopoly
The Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, in a recent interview on ARISE TV, said that it was “erroneous” to claim that IOCs were refusing to make crude oil available to domestic refiners.
He said the NUPRC had been very supportive of the Dangote refinery, intervening several times to help secure crude supply. Speaking along the same line on Thursday, NMDPRA’s Ahmed alleged that the Dangote refinery had requested the regulator to stop giving import licences to other marketers so as to be the only fuel supplier in Nigeria.
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 to 1,200ppm. So, in terms of quality, their product is much more inferior to the imported quality,” he had alleged.
Dangote demands products testing
Meanwhile, Dangote, in a statement on Saturday, said the refinery’s products not only comply with set standards but have also surpassed those of its contemporaries, with parts per million (ppm) measurement now at 32.
“In terms of quality, when we started, our quality was about six hundred to six fifty ppm; the ppm was one of the best in terms of quality at the time we started.
“But as of today, we are at 87 ppm. And you can take a sample on Monday. By Monday, we’ll be less than 50 ppm. By the beginning of August, we will be at 10 ppm.
“In terms of quality, nobody can produce anything better than us. I just got the result from our official 5 minutes ago, we are now down to even 32 ppm,” Dangote said.
He challenged regulators, including the NMDPRA, to come to the refinery and examine the quality of its products.
“When we were coming here, the Speaker of the House (of Representatives) said we should pick up samples from two filling stations. And when we got to our plant, we also picked up samples. The results have actually come out.
“They checked that of Total which 1,890 ppm was. The other filling station came to 2,563 ppm. Then the flashpoint metrics was 61 which is below the minimum. The minimum is 66. Also, the Total number is 26 flashpoints. Ours is 96. The records are there. We don’t believe in the test of people when they bring in ships. We do our own tests.
“I want to plead with the regulators to come at any time and before they get here, our ppm will be below 10,” Dangote stated.
