The sale and distribution of the PMS are reportedly being worked out with the federal government, according to a government source.
According to the source, only the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is currently authorized to distribute Dangote fuel.
Remember that the Dangote refinery was supposed to have stopped producing gasoline in June? Instead, it struggled with an oil shortage and got into a spat with the Nigerian midstream and downstream regulatory authority, which accused it of producing diesel that wasn’t up to par.
The action of the federal government, requiring the refinery to receive crude oil payments in local currency, appears to be having the desired effect.
According to Naijastreetmatt, international oil corporations have been accused by Dangote and other local refineries of not providing crude to the local refiners.
The Federal Government recently declared that the agreement to deliver crude oil would start in October.
The IOCs allegedly insisted on supplying crude oil to the refinery through their international agents, claiming that the local price of crude would keep rising because the trading arms offered cargoes at $2 to $4 per barrel, which was more than the NUPRC official pricing, according to the Dangote Group management.
Additionally, the group claimed that foreign oil companies appeared to prioritize exporting their commodities to Asian nations.
The refinery has not received enough crude locally, according to the Dangote Group, which has accused the NUPRC of failing to adequately implement the Domestic Crude Supply Obligations legislation.
In response, the NUPRC refuted the assertion and asserted that it made it possible for Dangote to get more than 29 million barrels of crude oil between January and June 2024.
By employing the monthly production curtailment mechanism, the NUPRC claimed to have made it easier for refineries like Dangote to receive local crude oil supplies.
However, the Dangote Group quickly responded by denying that it had ever received 29 million barrels of petroleum from anywhere.
Anthony Chiejina, a spokesman for the Dangote Group, stated, “We would like to thank NUPRC for this allocation, but at the same time, we wish to let them know that we are yet to receive these cargoes. We received their statement that they have facilitated the allocation of 29 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals.
Except for the supply terms that we bilaterally negotiated with NNPCL, NUPRC has only helped to purchase one shipment of crude oil from a local producer thus far. The remaining shipments that we have handled were bought from foreign dealers.
Chiejina continued, saying that the refinery’s only request was that Nigerian refineries purchase crude directly from Nigerian producers rather than through foreign middlemen.
Nigerians are expecting Dangote to lower PMS pump prices.
