vBy Lateef Adegbite
This is not the best of times for officials of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, now baptized , Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, by the National Assembly and signed into Law by former President Muhammadu uhamadu Buhari, on August 16, 2021.
Aliko Dangote ,a multi-billionaire business mogul`, and Chairman, Dangote Group of Industries appears set to remove sugar from the mouth of the NNPCL officials who have been to placing orders for importation of petroleum products worth trillions of the North American country of the United States, US, dollars, into the country.
The Dangote refinery, Chairman,, as he had declared at the Chief Executive Officer, CEOs, annual forum in Kigali , Capital of Rwanda, that Nigeria, his home country will no longer be importing Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popular, petrol from offshore refineries.
He has his reason. According to him,, the Dangote refinery built at a cost of 19 billion, US, dollars, and which has a capacity to process 650,000b/d, commissioned last February by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who incidentally has a former governor of Lagos state, has started production and supplies of Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, popular, diesel to the Major and Independent Petroleum Products Marketers, IPMAN, for sales at their various filling stations across the country, including Jet fuel to the airline operators .
At present, going by Dangote’s recent remarks, the refinery is expected to refine 2 litres of diesel, 11million litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene, DPK and nine million litres of Jet fuel. It was said to have also been positioned to start the production and supplies of petrol to the marketers for sales in June, 2024, which the multbilionaire investor had said will mark an end to the importation of the product into the Nigerian market and the entire African Continent.
This is contrary to Mele Kolo Kyari, Managing Director, NNPCL, earlier claims that ‘’Nigeria, will end the importation of refined petroleum products by December 2024’’, as all the country’ refineries with a capacity to process 445,000b/d, located in PortHarcourt, Warri and Kaduna, would become operational by then.
Recall that between January and February 2024, the Federal government was had spent about $2.16 billion to import 2.7 Million tonnes of PMS, from the offshore refineries in Europe and US, through Direct Sale, Direct Purchase arrangement and spot import volumes.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics had reported that NNPCL, spent N12 trillion fuel importation into the country in 2023, alone, during former President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration compared to N10 trillion spent in 2022.
Dangote, was said to have repeatedly said at the Kigali, CEOs, Forum, on Friday, May 17, 2024, that with the kick starting of production and supplies of products to marketers from its multi-billion dollar refinery at Lekki Free Trade Zone, in Llagos, the nation’s Commercila nerve centre, Nigeria and the ‘’the entire African Continent will depend less on the importation of diesel, ATK and petrol in the nearest future’’.
He was emphatic that that the Dangote refinery has the capacity ‘’to produce enough diesel, ATK and petrol, to serve the need of the member countries of the entire African Continent and also export some of the products to the North American country of Mexico and south American country of Brazil.
The Nigerian born business mogul,“ who could not hide his feelings had made it clear to those that cares to listen that’’ his dream for further investment in Africa is’’ to end fuel importation in the Continent which was said to have culminated in the dollar multi-billion investment in Nigeria, in what is now described as one of the biggest refineries in the world.
The multi-billionaire business mogul may have shocked the CEOs, of companies, at the Kigali Forum, when he lamented that in whole of the African Continent, only Algeria and Libya, both North African sub-region countries, that currently don’t import petroleum products.
As a prelude to meeting the Petroleum products demands of the African market, an elated Dangote, had said that his refinery which is based in Nigeria would be taking most of the crude oil being produced in the African Continent. He was said to have repeatedly said at the Kigali’s CEOs’ Forum that the Dangote refinery and petrochemical plant are too big for the Nigerian market alone, meaning that it would also supply its products to other countries in the West and Central sub-regions including South Africa.
The Dangote refinery Chairman, may have gladdened the heart of the CEOs, at the Kigali’s Forum, when he asserted that the company’s polyethene plant as well has the capacity’’ to meet the entire African countries needs’’, stating that ‘’it is currently producing base oil, which is in the class of engine oil, and linear benzyl, which is the raw material used in producing detergents. He noted that at present in the African Continent with a population of over 1.4 billion people, no company is producing that.
He may have gladdened hearts of the participants at the Rwanda forum as well when he further disclosed that in the next four years or thereabout, no country in the African Continent, including Nigeria, will be importing any Fertilizer either from Europe, United Kingdom, and UK, Asia or any other country in the North American Continent.
The Nigerian business mogul was said to have also declared at the Kigali Forum, that the Dangote refinery will make the African Continent’’ self-sufficient in potash, phosphate and production and supplies, stressing that the company will be producing at , three million tonnes in the next twenty months and six million tonnes of urea, which many believe is the total capacity of Egypt.
