Refinery Report: Our Diesel Best in Nigeria, Crashes Market Price to N1,000 per litre – Dangote
The Dangote Refinery says its diesel lunch into the market from April 2024 slashed the market price from N1,600 to N1,000 per litre.
Although the product presently goes for a little above N1,000.
The refinery said the price crash representing over 30 percent of the previous market price is expected to positively affect all the spheres of the economy and ultimately reduce the high inflation rate in the country.
Dangote Group Chief Commercial Officer, Rabiu A. Umar stated this on Friday in Kano at a media chat.
Umar said since the commencement of operations of the refinery, apart from the Nigerian market, its products have been exported to neighbouring African countries, Europe and the United States.
‘’As I speak with you right now, we have been refining Jet-A 1, that is aviation fuel and diesel with the expectation to roll out petrol from next month, ‘’Umar said.
Recall, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, in his recent comment stated that the quality of the refinery product is inferior to the imported products.
“Dangote Refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licensed yet,’’ Ahmed said.
Reacting to this comment, the Dangote Group Chief Commercial Officer denied the claims saying it was a total demarketing of the organization.
“Regarding diesel quality, we started with 600-700 PPM because it was a new plant.
“Now, our production is at 87 PPM, and by the end of August, it will be at 10 PPM.
He said, none of the imported diesel into Nigeria can compete with the Dangote refinery in terms of quality and this can be confirmed by any expert who intends to test our products and those imported independently.
‘’The airplanes using our product have never for once complained, talkless of the countries buying them in Europe and the United States where they don’t compromise standard.’’
According to him, even when the House of Representatives leadership led by the Speaker, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas visited the refinery last weekend, on their way they decided to buy diesel from two filling stations and compared with that of Dangote Refinery; they were amazed with the result of the quality of our product.
“The test revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a Sulphur content of 87.6 ppm (parts per million), whereas the other two samples showed Sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2000 ppm respectively.”
“We produce the best diesel in Nigeria. It’s disheartening that instead of safeguarding the market, the regulator is undermining it.’’
‘’Our doors are open for the regulator or any other persons in to conduct tests on our products anytime; transparency is paramount to us. Our interest is Nigeria first because if Nigeria doesn’t grow, we have limited capacity for growth.’’
‘’ The test conducted in their presence confirmed the quality of our diesel and attest to the fact that our diesel is one of the best in the world with the low Sulphur level, ‘’Umar said.
Also, on the issue of the refinery not yet license, Rabiu Umar noted that documents and facts do not lie, adding that all necessary procedures have been complied with before the refinery started operations.
‘’Anybody can cross check our papers, we are lincensed by the authorities to commence operations.’’
‘’NNPCL equity in our refinery now stands at 7.5% against 20%’’
Speaking on the NNPCL equity in the Dangote Refinery, Umar said initially 20% equity was allotted to the NNPCL with some obligations expected to be met.
‘’However, the NNPCL has not been able to meet those obligation that reduced the equity to 7.5%, ‘’Umar noted.
He described Dangote Refinery as a Nigerian and African pride that should not be allowed to die.
