Nigerian government has been accused of snubbing Dangote Refinery to export crude oil to Indonesia and import finished products from the same country.
The accusation was made by Mr Rabiu Umar, the Group Chief Commercial Officer at Dangote Industries Limited.
During an interview with Channels Television on Monday, Umar recounted the inefficiency of this practice, specifically given the 650,000 barrels per day capacity of the Dangote Refinery, which is battling to secure adequate crude oil supplies domestically.
“Whilst we are going to import cargoes abroad, most of the cargo from Nigeria is sold to Indonesia. So the question is, does it make sense to take cargo from Nigeria to sell to Indonesia and then you are also importing the same finished product to Nigeria? It does not make sense to me,” Umar stated.
He stressed the need for an improved supply of crude oil to domestic refineries and reiterated that the Dangote Refinery is set to commence domestic fuel supply in August 2024.
This is coming following a recent altercation between the Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) over product quality.
Last week, Farouk Ahmed, the CEO of NMDPRA, claimed that Dangote’s products were substandard.
While in response, Umar clarified that Dangote Refinery’s products are not substandard but are among the best in the world.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the owner of the refinery, also refuted Ahmed’s claims regarding the quality of their products.
