Dangote Refinery Not Yet Licensed, Still At 45% Pre-Commission Stage – NMDPRA

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has said the Dangote Refinery is not yet licenced and is still at the 45 per cent pre-commissioning stage.

Speaking to the State House correspondents on Thursday, Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Director of NMDPRA, said there were several concerns regarding petroleum products’ supply across the country.

There are a lot of concerns about the supply of petroleum products nationwide and the claims by some media houses that we were trying to scuttle Dangote refinery. That is not so,” he stated.

NMDPRA’s Ahmed further stated, “Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licenced yet. We have not licenced them yet.”

“I  think they are at about 45 per cent completion. So we can not rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation because Dangote is requesting that we suspend or stop all importation of petroleum products, especially automotive gas oil (AGO) or jet kero and direct all marketers to the refinery.”

He added, “This is not good for the nation in terms of energy security and also not good for markets because of monopoly.

So, currently, in terms of quality, the AGO quality in terms of Sulphur is the lowest as far as West Africa’s requirement of 50 ppm.”

NMDPRA’s disclosure came after the refinery Chairman and President, Aliko Dangote, alleged in a report that some International Oil Companies (IOCs) were manipulating petroleum product prices.

Despite subsequent contrary position by Gbenga Komolafe, the Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), who on July 15, described the claim as “erroneous” as the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has provisions that guide willing buyer-willing seller transactions, Dangote maintained the IOCs need to comply with the PIA mandates.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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