Dangote Refinery, one of Africa’s largest oil refineries, has expressed concern over the lack of patronage from petroleum marketers due to low pricing strategies on its product sales.
Devakumar Edwin, vice president of Dangote Industries Limited, disclosed this on a Twitter Spaces session organised by Nairametrics.
“Over 95 percent of petroleum product importers in Nigeria are not buying from the Dangote Refinery. The Dangote Refinery struggles to sell about 29 tankers of diesel per day due to low patronage from local petroleum products importers,” Devakumar said.
He added, “As a result of this poor local patronage, Dangote refinery exports most of its diesel and aviation fuel”.
“Petroleum product marketers in Nigeria have written to President Bola Tinubu to complain that the refinery local prices which have dropped from N1,200 to N1,000 and now N900 per litre are impacting their businesses negatively,” he said.
Edwin highlighted some of the challenges facing the Dangote Refinery and its impact on Nigeria’s fuel supply and prices.
According to him, the refinery, located in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, struggles to sell about 29 tankers of diesel per day due to low patronage from local petroleum product importers.
Edwin had earlier said Dangote Refinery products would be exported if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and other petroleum dealers in the country refused to patronise it.
“We have been exporting aviation fuel, producing kerosene, producing diesel, but yesterday, we started the production of PMS. So, that was the last stage. The only thing now left out is petrochemicals.
“So, the good news for the country is we have started producing PMS from our refinery,” he had said on a radio programme.
Asked if the petrol would be sold locally, Edwin replied, “Well, I explained how there has been a kind of a blockade from lifting our products within the country. The traders have been trying to block (it), so now we have been exporting our petroleum products. PMS, we are ready to pump in as much as possible to the country.
“But if the traders or NNPC are not buying the product we will end up exporting the PMS as we are doing with the aviation jet and diesel,” he declared.
Edwin expressed surprise that the company started facing different challenges it never expected when the refinery was set to commence operations.
He recalled that the philosophy initially was to add value to the raw materials available in the country, regretting that Nigeria is still exporting crude and importing refined petroleum products after over three decades.
