International oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria are seeking to undermine the operations and profit margins of the Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest, by demanding a high premium for domestically produced crude, senior officials at the refinery have told local media.
Africa's largest refinery begins producing fuel in January 2024, marking the official start-up of the refinery after years of delays.
Now, a senior official of the refinery has accused multinational companies in the country of conspiring to bankrupt the refinery.
“While the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is doing its best to allocate crude to us, the international oil companies are deliberately hindering us from buying local crude,” Devakumar Edwin, vice president of oil and gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), told Nigerian media over the weekend.
“It seems like the international oil companies’ goal is to ensure our refineries fail. Either they are deliberately asking for ridiculously large premiums or they simply say there is no crude available,” said Edwin.
The official added that at one point the Dangote refinery had to pay $6 per barrel above the market price for crude oil.
“It seems that the aim of the international oil companies is to ensure that Nigeria remains a country that exports crude oil and imports refined petroleum products,” Edwin said.
The Dangote Refinery has an average daily production capacity of 650,000 barrels of refined petroleum products and is expected to meet 100% of Nigeria's demand for all refined petroleum products, with a surplus available for export.
The refinery plans to export diesel to European customers, while gasoline is destined for Latin American and African markets. However, Euro V gasoline that meets European emissions standards is not expected to be produced until the end of 2024, according to Facts global energy analysts.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is considering setting up a trading company to supply crude to the giant new refinery, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans.
The article is forwarded from: Jinshi Data
