The management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery has reported difficulties in obtaining the full amount of crude oil required for optimal refinery operations from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC).
In a statement issued by Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief, Branding and Communications Officer, Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the refinery expressed concerns about the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)’s failure to enforce the domestic crude supply obligations as stipulated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Chiejina stated, “We therefore still insist that we are unable to secure our full crude requirement from domestic production and urge the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), to fully enforce the domestic crude supply obligation as mandated by the PIA.”
Chiejina clarified that his company [Dangote Petroleum Refinery] has 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.”
He further articulated, “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.
“Consequently, we often purchase the same Nigerian crude from international traders at an additional $3-$4 premium per barrel, which translates to $3-$4 million per cargo,” he added.
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