Our reporter/ The quality of petroleum products from the Dangote refinery, as well as those from Watersmith, Aradel, and other modular refineries, is inferior compared to imported ones, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA has said.
Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA Farouk Ahmed, who made the disclosure in a recent interview with reporters, a video of which was published by TVC, denied reports that some elements within the oil and gas sector were trying to scuttle the Dangote Refinery.
According to him, the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery has not been issued an operational licence by NMDPRA as it is still in the pre-commissioning stage and about 45 per cent completed.
Ahmed added that the country cannot risk dependence on Dangote Refinery by suspending petroleum products, especially Automotive Gas Oil and Dual Purpose Kerosene, DPK.
“That is not so. Dangote Refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licenced yet. We haven’t licenced them yet. I think they are about 45 per cent to completion, the NMDPRA boss said.
“We cannot rely 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 said that in terms of quality, Dangote’s current AGO (diesel) suffers from the lowest quality in terms of sulphur content, falling short of West Africa’s requirement of 50 parts per million (PPM).
“Dangote Refinery, as well as some modular refineries like Watersmith Refinery and Aradel Refinery, are producing between 650 and 1,200 PPM. Therefore, in terms of quality, their products are inferior to imported ones,” he stated.
The NMDPRA boss comment comes on the heels of recent allegation by Devakumar Edwin, the Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, that most fuel products imported into Nigeria are substandard.
Edwin also accused international oil companies of frustrating the kickoff of the Dangote Refinery by selling oil crude at a higher price in Nigeria.
Leave a Reply