Dangote says products from his Refinery best in Nigeria, dismisses NMDPRA allegation
President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, has dismissed allegations from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA), stating that DIL’s diesel is 80% better than the imports currently entering the country.
Dangote made this known on Saturday while giving members of the House of Representatives a tour of his company’s facilities.
Recall that chief executive of the NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, disclosed in a recent interview with newsmen that the 650,000 bpd Dangote refinery has not been licensed.
He also claimed that both the Dangote refinery and some modular refineries’ current AGO (diesel) are inferior in quality compared to others.
Reacting, Anthony Chiejine, the company’s spokesperson, said the allegation made was baseless as the company’s diesel production is at lowest level of sulphur.
He said, “Until late last year, diesel imports into Nigeria were up to 7,000 parts per million (ppm) of Sulphur which has been going on for many years. Our diesel is produced currently at significantly lower levels of Sulphur; as such, we find baseless the allegation that the reason for the reduction is linked to quality. What we are producing is 80 percent of what is being imported into the country.
“Another inaccurate assertion is that Medium Level Sulphur diesel is meant for off-road use. This is a completely false statement, as this would have invariably meant that all the imports for the last 20 years have been damaging equipment.
“Thirdly, diesel imports for the high sulphur grade have been at significantly higher prices until we started operation. If indeed high Sulphur diesel is sold at lower prices, how come we never saw the lower prices until now?” he added.
Dangote also called on the leadership of the House of Representatives to set up a committee to verify the company’s production.
“Regarding diesel quality, we started with 600–700 PPM because it was a new plant. Now, our production is at 87 PPM, and by the end of August, it will be at 10 PPM. I invite the leadership of the House to set up a committee to take samples from fueling stations and our production line to verify quality. All the test certificates being circulated could be fake, and it’s essential to have a reliable testing process,” Dangote said while receiving House of Representatives leaders.