Dangote Industries Limited, DIL, has said it has never accused the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of not supplying crude to its refinery in Lagos.
Dangote said this in a statement on Thursday while reacting to claims that it has backtracked from its earlier claim that the NNPCL was not supplying crude for the operation of its refinery.
The claim was based on the appearance of an official of the company before the Senate on Wednesday.
However, Dangote Industries Limited, in the statement it issued on Thursday said its complaint was concern has always been NUPRC’s reluctance to enforce the domestic crude supply obligation” to it, rather than failure of the NNPCL to supply crude for the operation of its refinery.
The company said, “Our attention has been drawn to media reports alleging that the Dangote Refinery has backtracked by acknowledging that NNPC supplied about 60% of the 50 million barrels we lifted.
“To clarify, we have never accused NNPC of not supplying us with crude. Our concern has always been NUPRC’s reluctance to enforce the domestic crude supply obligation, and ensuring that we receive our full crude requirement from NNPC and the IOCs.”
The company noted that while the September requirement for the refinery is 15 cargoes, six were allocated to the NNPCL.
“For September, our requirement is 15 cargoes, of which NNPC allocated six. Despite appealing to NUPRC, we’ve been unable to secure the remaining cargoes. When we approached IOCs producing in Nigeria, they redirected us to their international trading arms or responded that their cargoes were committed,” it said.
“Consequently, we often purchase the same Nigerian crude from international traders at an additional $3-$4 premium per barrel which translates to $3-$4 million per cargo. We therefore still insist that we are unable to secure our full crude requirement from domestic production and urge NUPRC to fully enforce the domestic crude supply obligation as mandated by the PIA,” the statement signed by the Group Chief Branding & Communications Officer Anthony Chiejina read.