We never accused NNPCL of not supplying crude to Dangote Refinery – Aliko

The President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has clarified that his 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery had never accused NNPCL of not supplying crude oil.

Dangote made this known in a statement on Thursday.

His reaction comes in response to a report that NNPCL supplies Dangote Refinery with about 60 percent of the 50 million barrels lifted.

Dangote, however, said the concern of the refinery has always been the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC’s reluctance to enforce the 450,000 barrels of crude oil domestic supply obligation.

According to him, when his Refinery approached International Oil Companies in Nigeria for crude, they either redirected the company to a third party or responded that their cargoes were committed.

He noted that the Dangote Refinery was built to use Nigerian crude blend.

He, however, acknowledged that the issues of crude supply were getting resolved but was open to other opportunities to supplement it.

“Our attention has been drawn to media reports alleging that the Dangote refinery has backtracked by acknowledging that NNPC supplied about 60 percent 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 ensure that we receive our full crude requirement from NNPC and the IOCs.

“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”, he said.

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently asked NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in Naira.