The Dangote Oil Refinery emphasized that it is not receiving sufficient feedstock from local producers. In a statement on Thursday, Anthony Chiejina, the Chief Branding and Communications Officer of the Dangote Group, addressed claims that the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has not adequately enforced domestic crude supply obligations.
Chiejina’s comments followed reports suggesting that the refinery acknowledged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) provided approximately 60 percent of the 50 million barrels lifted. This statement came before a Senate committee investigating allegations of sabotage within the oil and gas industry.
“To clarify, we have never accused NNPC of failing to supply us with crude. Our primary concern has always been NUPRC’s lack of action in enforcing the domestic crude supply obligation, which is essential for us to receive our full crude requirements from NNPC and international oil companies,” Chiejina stated.
He explained that for September, the refinery needs 15 cargoes but received an allocation of only six from NNPC. Despite efforts to engage with NUPRC, the refinery has not been able to obtain the additional cargoes. When they approached international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria, they often faced redirection to their international trading divisions or were told that their cargoes were already committed.
Chiejina highlighted that the company frequently buys the same Nigerian crude from international traders at an extra cost of 3to3to4 per barrel, totaling 3to3to4 million per cargo. “We thus maintain that we cannot meet our full crude requirements from domestic production and call on NUPRC to rigorously enforce the domestic crude supply obligation as outlined by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA),” he concluded.
