Despite Dangote refinery’s operations, Nigeria expects vessels of imported petrol, aviation fuel

Despite the commencement of operations at the Dangote refinery, Nigeria is expected to receive vessels loaded with imported petrol and aviation fuel this week.

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said that seven ships would berth with crude oil on Friday at the Lagos ports.

In its ‘Daily Shipping Position, ’ the NPA explained that seven vessels, out of the nine expected, would berth diesel, crude oil bulk urea, petrol and aviation fuel.

“The remaining two vessels will berth with containers carrying different goods. The nine expected vessels will berth at Sifax, ENL Consortium Terminals, Apapa Bulk Terminal (ABT), among other terminals in Lagos,” it said.

The NPA noted that a total of two vessels were waiting to berth at Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports with bulk urea and aviation fuel.

It added that three vessels were currently discharging general cargo, petrol and containers at Lekki Deep Seaport in Lagos.

On Tuesday, Aliko Dangote, founder and president/chief executive of the Dangote Group, said his refinery has more than 500 million litres of petrol in stock, but marketers have not been picking up the product.

He questioned why the NNPC and private retailers were still importing petrol when his refinery could produce enough.

“So, I am expecting that the NNPC Ltd and the marketers should stop importing; they should come and collect what they need,” Mr Dangote said Tuesday.

Mr Dangote did not say for how long the 500 million litres of petrol had been refined and stored by his 650,000 barrels per day refinery.

However, PREMIUM TIMES reported that data from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) showed that his refinery was unable to meet the required volume of petrol sought by NNPC Ltd for three weeks.

According to a Dangote Evacuation Report seen by this newspaper, between 15 September and 5 October, the refinery delivered only 148 million litres of petrol, instead of 575 million litres.

Dangote Refinery-NNPC Tango

In recent months, the Dangote Group has been at loggerheads with the NNPC, petroleum regulators and some private oil firms over the control of the petroleum downstream market.

In June, the Dangote Group accused some international oil companies of sabotaging the plant’s operations by either refusing to supply crude or offering oil at higher premiums compared to market prices.

It also clashed with the NMDPRA, which claimed diesel from the refiner has sulphur content levels above the allowed threshold. The regulator also accused Dangote of seeking to be a monopoly.

In refuting the allegation, Mr Dangote took lawmakers visiting the refinery to a laboratory within the plant, where diesel from the refinery was tested alongside two different samples from imports.

The results showed the sample from the refinery’s diesel had much lower sulphur than the imported ones.

In July, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) directed NNPC Ltd to engage the Dangote refinery and other local refineries to resolve the dispute over the sale of crude oil to them.

The FEC, presided over by President Bola Tinubu, also directed that such crude oil sales to the refineries be made in naira and that the refineries, located in Nigeria, should also sell their refined products to the Nigerian market in naira.

In October, the Nigerian government said it had officially commenced the sale of crude oil and refined petroleum products in Naira. The sale in Naira took effect from 1 October, the government said at the time.

PREMIUM TIMES also exclusively reported that NNPC Ltd ended its exclusive purchase agreement with Dangote Refinery, opening up the market for other marketers to buy petrol directly from the refinery.

The decision meant that the NNPC no longer acted as the sole off-taker, and marketers could now negotiate prices directly with Dangote Refinery.