By Abiola Olawale
The face-off between key stakeholders in the oil and gas sector of Nigeria and Africa’s richest man and the Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has continued to take different twists and turns.
This is as the Group Chief Commercial Officer at Dangote Industries Limited, Rabiu Umar has accused the federal government of ignoring the Dangote Refinery while exporting crude oil to Indonesia.
Umar who spoke with the press on Monday said certain individuals in the government who are enjoying dividends from the exportation of crude oil and importation of finished products have been trying to sideline the 650,000 barrels Refinery located in Lagos state.
He accused the said individuals of trying to sabotage the refinery by denying it an adequate supply of crude oil.
He said: “Whilst we are going to import cargoes abroad. Most of the cargo from Nigeria is sold to Indonesia. So the question is, does it make sense to take cargo from Nigeria to sell to Indonesia and then you are also importing the same finished product to Nigeria? It does not make sense to me.
“We expect to see an improved supply of crude oil to domestic refineries”.
He, however, reiterated that Dangote Refinery will commence the domestic supply of fuel in August 2024.
The development comes amid the recent public battle of words between the Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) over substandard products.
It would be recalled that the Chief executive of the NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed had claimed that the diesel from Dangote’s plant contained high levels of sulphur, harmful to engines and the environment.
Ahmed also said that Nigeria cannot depend on products from the Dangote refinery, revealing that products from the 650,000 barrels refinery are inferior and substandard in quality.
In response, Dangote invited members of the House of Representatives on a tour of the refinery to witness lab tests and make a comparison between the sulphur content of its diesel with imported samples.
According to Dangote, the tests revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm, significantly lower than the imported samples, which had levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm.
Dangote explained that the result does not only show the reality of products from his refinery, but it also shows that substandard petroleum products are being imported into the country and sold to unsuspecting Nigerians.
