The Dangote Group has denied media reports alleging that Dangote Refinery has backtracked by acknowledging that NNPCL supplied about 60% of the 50 million barrels that had been lifted by the company.
This is contained in a statement by Anthony Chiejina, Group Chief, Branding and Communications Office of Dangote Group.
The statement added: “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 NNPCL 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,” the statement read.
The group further stated that in the absence of the NNPCL supply, it had resorted to getting supplies from some foreign organizations, adding that the crude oil requirement for production is still not sufficient.
It read: “Consequently, we often purchase the same Nigerian crude from international traders at an additional $3-$4 premium per barrel which translates to $3-$4 million per cargo.
“We therefore still insist that we are unable to secure our full crude requirement for domestic production and urge NUPRC to fully enforce the domestic crude supply obligation as mandated by the PIA.”