Africa’s largest crude oil refinery Dangote Refinery has not been licensed yet, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has said.
According to the regulator, the refinery was still at the pre-commissioning stage.
The Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, disclosed this on Thursday when he responded to reports of alleged sabotaged of the Dangote refinery.
He expressed concerns over the consistency and standardization of the refinery’s output.
He noted that products coming from Dangote refinery are inferior compared to the imported products.
“Well, just like you rightly asked, there are lots of concerns about the supply of petroleum products nationwide and the claims by some media houses that we were trying to scuttle the Dangote refinery; that is not so.
“Dangote refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licensed yet. We have not licensed them yet,” he said.
According to him, the demand for the Dangote refinery cannot be met by the authorities at this time hence it could lead to energy insecurity and market monopoly.
He said: “So we can not rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation because Dangote is requesting that we should suspend or stop all importation of petroleum products, especially automotive gas oil (AGO) or jet kero, and direct all marketers to the refinery.
“Dangote refinery as well as some major refineries like Waltersmith refinery, produce between 650 to 1200 ppm. So, in terms of quality, their quality is much more inferior to the imported quality,” Mr Ahmed added.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com