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The Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical is ready to start exporting fuel to South Africa, Angola, and Namibia, Saturday PUNCH can disclose.
According to a highly reputable source who revealed this confidentially to one of our journalists on Friday, the management of the refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day was in advanced talks with the countries about starting to lift petroleum.
Our journalists learned that four other African countries – the Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic – had also begun talks with the refinery.
Saturday PUNCH was reliably informed that more countries were anticipated to express an interest in lifting fuel from the refinery in the coming months.
Ghana was recently reported to have expressed interest in purchasing gasoline from the $20 billion Lekki refinery.
Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Chairman of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority, claimed the agreement with the Dangote refinery will put a stop to his country’s $400 million monthly petroleum imports from Europe.
“I can confirm to you that talk is actually at advance stage with Ghana, Angola, Namibia and South Africa, while initial discussion is coming up with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Central African Republic,” a source told me.
When questioned why marketers refuse to buy from Dangote despite the refinery’s capacity, the insider claimed the dealers had a hidden purpose.
“However, between now and January 2025, their scheme will be revealed. The Dangote refinery remains the country’s best hope for a sustainable supply of petrol, and it has the capacity to serve the entire country, according to the source.
Meanwhile, local marketers have decided to import fuel from outside the nation.
Last Monday, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria insisted on fuel importation, accusing the Dangote refinery of selling fuel to Nigerians at exorbitant prices.
The marketers are awaiting approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to import cheaper petrol.
To proceed, the marketers requested access to foreign exchange from the CBN, as well as permits from the NMDPRA to ensure fuel quality and regulatory compliance.
The NMDPRA has, however, denied reports that IPMAN and PETROAN were granted fuel import licenses as associations.
An NMDPRA officer, who talked to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity because to the sensitivity of the topic, stated that the agency could not approve oil marketers’ petitions for import licences as a group, but only on an individual basis.
According to the source, individual applications are required by law and cannot be shelved.
“The truth is that they cannot apply for a petrol import licence as a group or association. Individual marketers must apply on their own before being granted a licence. They must apply by themselves. We are not going to issue the permit jointly, thus they cannot apply as an association.
“So, this also means that if individual marketers don’t apply for it, we can’t approve it.”
Responding, PETROAN’s National Public Relations Officer, Dr Joseph Obele, stated that the association requested for the import permission about a month ago through its newly formed commercial wing.
He called Dangote a “aggressive competitor” who will go to any length to dominate the business.
“You should know that Dangote is just about to close all the doors and windows so that no one can enter the market.” He is adamant that no one joins the market as a competition. We tell Nigerians that as soon as the regulatory agency accepts our authority to import, the price of PMS that is currently causing misery to Nigerians will crash to the base.
“The product we intend to import is one of the best so far, far superior to his (Dangote’s) own, but he is simply informing Nigerians that any product entering the nation is inferior to his own.
“We urge Nigerians to support the need to dismantle monopolies so that we can unleash the market; otherwise, we will remain trapped. We are currently stuck; we are trapped by exploitation, and the only way out is to deconstruct every facet of monopoly, and we are asking Nigerians to support us,” Obele stated.
