The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has been blamed for Dangote Refinery crude oil supply woes, and other challenges facing Nigeria’s economy.
According to Business Day, an analyst and Lagos-based Economist, Kelvin Emmanuel, made the assertion.
Recall that on two recent occasions, the Chairman of the Dangote group, Aliko Dangote had fingered cabals frustrating the full-scale kickoff of his 650,000 barrel per day Lagos-based refinery.
Devakumar Edwin, Dangote’s vice president re-echoed the Chairman’s position on June 24, 2024, when he particularly said that International Oil Companies are sabotaging the company by refusing to sell crude oil to the firm and selling at a premium price.
However, in the middle of the debate, Emmanuel blamed NNPCL for the spat between Dangote Refinery and IOCs.
According to him, NNPCL has failed to honour its 300,000 barrels per day in feedstock for the 20 percent equity contribution of N1.7 billion it owes Dangote Refinery.
He claimed that the IOCs have supplied more crude to Dangote Refinery than NNPCL.
“NNPC has not honored the 300k barrels per day in feedstock for an equity contribution of $1.7bn it owes, but somehow, the blame is placed on IOCs that usually lock in five-to seven-year contracts with European refineries well ahead of time.
“The reality is that since the inception of the refinery, the IOCs have sold more oil to Dangote than the NNPCL. If they are selling at a $6 premium to platts, they have to break already forwards to provide spots,” he said.
The development comes on the back of Wednesday’s fire incident that broke out in a section of Dangote’s refinery.
However, an official statement from the company described the incident as minor.
Earlier, Edwin also accused the Nigerian Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NUPRC, of approving licenses to marketers for the import of diesel fuel into the country.
Dangote’s refinery had earlier fixed mid-July to commence the supply of petrol in Nigeria.
Meanwhile,experts had ruled out a possible fuel price crash upon the commencement of Dangote’s supply of fuel in Nigeria.
