The Dangote refinery has revealed that since it commenced full operations, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has supplied it with 30 million barrels of crude oil, which constitutes 60% of the 50 million barrels of crude oil feedstock the refinery has so far processed.
This revelation was made by the Group Chief Strategy Officer of Dangote Refinery, Aliyu Suleiman when he appeared before a Senate adhoc committee investigating the alleged importation of substandard petroleum products into the country. The Committee is chaired by Opeyemi Bamidele, the senate majority leader.
The Dangote refinery chief strategist said that while the NNPC Ltd supplied 60% of the refinery’s total processed crude, 20% was imported, and 20% was purchased (locally from other sources). Suleiman commended the NNPC for making the supply to the Dangote refinery. He however asked for fair crude oil pricing.
“Essentially, all we are asking for, and let us be very clear, we are happy to pay fair prices. We are very happy with the price that they set. The price is like supermarkets and that is what we buy”, Mr. Suleiman said.
“But what we buy from others is what we think the regulator should look at and the good thing is that the regulator has published a guideline that will address some of these.
“We hope that we will work with the regulator and we will get their support so that the refinery can get 100 percent of its crude from Nigeria and buy the crude from companies that produce it in Nigeria, not from international middlemen.
“Whatever the prices, as long as it is in Nigeria, and that is the price also that the producer will pay their tax on, we’ll be happy to pay that”, Aliyu Suleiman noted.