By Abiola Olawale
The Chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Mr Farouk Ahmed has insisted that Nigeria cannot depend on products from the Dangote refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man and business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, revealing that products from Dangote’s refinery are inferior and substandard in quality.
Despite emerging optimism that the Dangote Refinery is going to crash down the prices of petrol, diesel and other products, Ahmed revealed that the 650,000 barrels Refinery located in Lagos state is not ready to supply quality products.
According to him, the quality of the $19 billion refinery’s products was inferior compared to the imported quality products.
While denying claims that the agency was trying to scuttle Dangote Refinery, he said the agency was concerned about the nationwide supply of petroleum products if the country relied on the Dangote refinery alone and solely.
He said: “I think we have about 45% completion. We cannot rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation because Dangote is requesting that we suspend or stop imports, especially of AGO and DPK, and direct all marketers to his refinery.
“That is not good for the nation in terms of energy security, and it is not good for the market because of the monopoly.
Ahmed also explained that Dangote’s current AGO does not meet West Africa’s requirement of 50 PPM in terms of sulphur content, indicating the lowest quality in the region.
He continued: “Dangote Refinery, along with other major refineries, produces between six hundred and fifty to one thousand two hundred parts per million (PPM). Therefore, in terms of quality, their products are inferior to imported ones.”
The New Diplomat reports that the refinery located in Lagos, Nigeria commenced operations last December with 350,000 barrels a day.
Though the refinery management has said it has begun to supply diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country, it has yet to supply fuel.
