The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), currently the sole importer of petrol into the country, has confirmed that it will cut down its imports of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol as soon as Dangote Refinery starts pumping out refined petroleum products from late July or early August.
The 650,000 barrels per day crude oil processing refinery was inaugurated on May 22, 2023 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, who described the facility as a game-changer.
The Founder/Chairman, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, during the inauguration, said the facility would stop the inflow of toxic substandard petroleum products into the country, adding that the refinery would start delivering refined products to the Nigerian market from late July or early August this year, meeting 100 per cent of Nigeria’s fuel needs.
The national oil firm’s spokesperson, Garba-Deen Muhammad, said once the Dangote Refinery begin to push out products in August, the NNPCL fuel imports programme would change.
He said, “NNPC Limited is bringing in products from outside Nigeria as a matter of necessity, not as a matter of choice. We would have preferred that we produce here, refine here and we sell and provide the energy security that the country needs.
“Because of the circumstances that surround our refineries, we cannot allow the country to be grounded. So we have to buy wherever we can get and sell. So if Dangote products are available, why should we not buy from Dangote?
“There is absolutely no reason. And that is the reason why we are interested in the Dangote Refinery. We are co-owners, shouldn’t we do business with our partners rather than do it with other people?”
Muhammad explained that the NNPCL would be supplying crude oil to the Dangote Refinery based on business agreement between both parties, and that this would be in accordance with the international price of crude.
“NNPC owns 20 per cent of that asset and we have an agreement with Dangote that we will supply the refinery with crude. So as soon as Dangote begins to request for crude to pay for it, NNPC is prepared to supply the crude as a business transaction.
“We have been selling crude to different parts of the world for decades, and it is not whether we will sell it to Dangote, for why won’t we sell to Dangote when we are selling to other refineries and countries?”
NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, recently stated that the supply of 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day by the national oil firm to the Dangote Refinery would start once the facility commenced operations.
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