Aliko Dangote, the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, has clarified that his 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery has never accused NNPC of failing to supply crude oil.
In a statement on Thursday, Dangote explained that the refinery’s concern lies with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s failure to enforce the 450,000 barrels of domestic crude oil supply obligation.
He also mentioned that when his refinery approached International Oil Companies in Nigeria for crude, they either redirected him to a third party or claimed their cargoes were already committed.
Despite these challenges, Dangote emphasized that the refinery was designed to use Nigerian crude blend.
He expressed optimism that the issues with crude supply were being resolved but remained open to other options.
“Our attention has been drawn to media reports alleging that the Dangote refinery has backtracked by acknowledging that NNPC supplied about 60 percent of the 50 million barrels we lifted.
“To clarify, we have never accused NNPC of not supplying us with crude. Our concern has always been NUPRC’s reluctance to enforce the domestic crude supply obligation and ensure that we receive our full crude requirement from NNPC and the IOCs.
“For September, our requirement is 15 cargoes, of which NNPC allocated six. Despite appealing to NUPRC, we’ve been unable to secure the remaining cargoes.
“When we approached IOCs producing in Nigeria, they redirected us to their international trading arms or responded that their cargoes were committed”, he said.
