Devakumar Edwin, Dangote Group’s vice-president, has explained the reason the free petrol distribution by Dangote Petroleum Refinery has not impacted retail price.
On Monday, TheCable observed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has increased petrol price to N992 per litre in Lagos, and N955 per litre in Abuja.
On June 15, Dangote refinery announced its acquisition of 4,000 new compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered tankers to enhance its fuel distribution capacity across the country.
In September, the refinery commenced free delivery of petrol.
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Edwin said a delay in the arrival of the 4,000 CNG trucks ordered from China has slowed down its free nationwide delivery of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.
He spoke on Friday during a tour of the Dangote refinery by Reno Omokri, a former adviser to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.
“What happened is we ordered the 4,000 trucks but the ships from China coming, they could not get adequate ships to bring all the 4,000 here. That had a major impact,” Edwin said.
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“By the grace of God, before the end of this year, we will have all the trucks here. Once we have all the trucks here, we start rolling out, every demand locally, we will be able to meet through our own trucks.
“Then, we will be able to see the impact, whether you are in Taraba, whether you are in Maiduguri, whether you are in Sokoto, we will be able to see that the prices remain uniform and the prices are much lower.”
EDWIN SAYS DANGOTE REFINERY FACING CHALLENGES IN ACHIEVING 100% LOCAL CRUDE SUPPLY
The group’s vice-president said Dangote refinery is facing crude oil supply challenges, which is affecting its plan to transition to 100 percent local crude.
In July, he announced that the refinery expects to transition 100 percent to local crude supply before the end of 2025.
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Highlighting the constraints in achieving the goal, Edwin mentioned the recent suspension of the naira-for-crude initiative, which was due to a lack of supply of crude oil from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
On September 27, Dangote refinery suspended the sale of petrol in naira, however, hours after, the refinery resumed transactions after the intervention of the federal government.
Edwin said since President Bola Tinubu intervened, directing that crude be supplied in naira, the company believes its challenges in securing 100 percent local crude supply will be resolved going forward.
The group’s vice-president also said the refiner is facing challenges from other suppliers, such as the international oil companies (IOCs).
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He explained that the crude suppliers try to hike prices by directing local buyers to their offshore trading companies, claiming they can not negotiate directly, even though the crude is sourced locally, leading to inflated prices and unnecessary costs.
“But I do believe that these things will get eased out going forward. We expect that it will get eased out,” he said.
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“As I said, the President has clearly announced Nigeria first. So, the President will definitely push forward for 100 percent of the petroleum products to be refined within the country. And people will come and invest. So, things will definitely change.”
Edwin added that Nigeria can definitely produce crude oil of the same quality as imported crude, noting that the US was once Nigeria’s largest crude oil customer.
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He also said Dangote refinery’s daily crude oil requirement of 600,000 barrels seems easily attainable considering Nigeria produces 1.5 million barrels per day, though the company has faced supply hiccups.
Edwin said Tinubu’s intervention has “held out” hope of resolving the challenges.
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