By Adedapo Adesanya
On Thursday, the House of Representatives said it would investigate an alleged plot by International Oil Companies (IOCs) to frustrate the operations of the Dangote refinery.
This followed a matter of urgent national importance raised by the Minority Leader in the lower chamber, Mr Kingsley Chinda.
The lower chamber expressed worry that there could be an ongoing manipulation of the price of local crude, preventing the Dangote Refinery from buying locally, thereby affecting the cost of the refined product.
The legislators also said they would investigate the actual percentage of the federal government’s shares in the private company.
According to Mr Chinda, Mr Dangote had said Nigeria owns 7.2 per cent as against the 20 per cent shares earlier claimed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited because the government was unable to meet its obligations.
After deliberations, the House urged the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to intervene in the situation to ensure the success of the oil facility located in Lagos for the country’s good.
Recall that over a spate of media interactions, Mr Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and majority stake owner in the $19.5 million 650,000-barrel-a-day capacity refinery accused International Oil Companies (IOCs) of frustrating its refinery operations.
Also on Wednesday, the Vice President of Oil & Gas, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr Devakumar Edwin, alleged that the local price of crude would continue to increase because the trading arms offer cargoes at $2 to $4 per barrel, above the official price tabled by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
In a statement, Mr Edwin had the foreign oil producers seemed to be prioritising Asian countries in selling the crude they produced in Nigeria
“As an example, we paid $96.23 per barrel for a cargo of Bonga crude grade in April (excluding transport). The price consisted of $90.15 dated Brent price + $5.08 NNPC premium (NSP) + $1 trader premium.
“In the same month, we were able to buy WTI at a dated Brent price of $90.15 + $0.93 trader premium including transport.
“When NNPC subsequently lowered its premium based on market feedback that it was too high, some traders then started asking us for a premium of up to $4 million over and above the NSP for a cargo of Bonny Light.
“Data on platforms like Platts and Argus shows that the price offered to us is way higher than the market prices tracked by these platforms,” the statement read.
This came after the Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Mr Gbenga Komolafe, in an interview said that “it is erroneous for one to say that the International Oil Companies are refusing to make crude oil available to domestic refiners, as the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has a stipulation that calls for a willing buyer-willing seller relationship.”