Dangote refinery, NUPRC trade words over crude oil allocation.

The PUNCH reports that the Dangote Group on Thursday, accused the NUPRC of failing to enforce the Domestic Crude Supply Obligations.

Reacting, the NUPRC debunked the claim on Friday, stating that it facilitated the supply of over 29 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote Refinery from January to June 2024.

However, in a swift response, the Dangote Refinery said it did not receive any 29mb of crude.

The NUPRC on Friday, explained that as part of its commitment to ensure the enforcement of Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, nine refineries have benefitted from the 32,088,122 barrels of crude as Dangote alone enjoyed 29,047,098 barrels out of the total supply between January to June 2024,” NUPRC added.

Meanwhile, the management of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery maintained that refineries in Nigeria should be allowed to buy crude directly from the companies that produce it in Nigeria rather than from international middlemen, as enshrined in the PIA.

Spokesperson for the Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, said Friday night, “We are in receipt of NUPRC’s statement that they have facilitated the allocation of 29 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals in January to June 2024, we would like to thank them for this allocation but at the same time, we wish to let them know that we are yet to receive these cargoes. . All the refinery is asking for is for refineries in Nigeria to buy crude directly from the companies that produce it in Nigeria rather than from international middlemen.

The PUNCH recalls that the management of the Dangote Group had alleged that the IOCs were still frustrating crude supply to the 650,000-capacity refinery.

The group alleged that the IOCs insisted on selling crude oil to its refinery through their foreign agents, saying the local price of crude will continue to increase because the trading arms offer cargoes at $2 to $4 per barrel, above NUPRC’s official price. They also alleged that the foreign oil producers seem to be prioritising Asian countries in selling the crude they produce in Nigeria.

Earlier, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, denied the monopoly allegation, wondering how he could be a monopoly when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is renovating government-owned refineries with $4bn.

https://punchng.com/dangote-refinery-nuprc-trade-words-over-crude-oil-allocation/