There are indications that Dangote Refinery will not commence the domestic supply of petrol earlier scheduled for mid-August, 2024.
Metrobusinessnews.com (MBN) recalls that the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote had earlier announced 10-12 August 2024 as the proposed kickoff date for the commencement of petrol supply.
The supply date has been subjected to series of postponements with the last one shifted from July to August.
Although there is no official statement on the reason for the delay, a source told MBN that this was not unconnected to the crude supply crisis the 650,000 barrels per day refinery is battling.
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This comes as Dangote Group and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission recently engaged in a war of words over 26 million barrels supply of Crude cargoes.
NUPRC in response to Dangote’s call for implementation of Domestic Crude Obligation as enshrined by the Petroleum Industry Act, said it had facilitated 26 million barrels of crude cargoes for Dangote Refinery from January to June 2024.
However, Dangote Group denied receiving the 26 million barrels.
This is as the company further reiterated its stance that NUPRC and International Oil Companies in Nigeria are frustrating its commencement of fuel production.
This is despite President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s intervention directing the sale of crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in Naira.
MBN further findings show that the ongoing crude supply crisis might be a setback to the Dangote oil refinery which is supposed to commence the supply of the much-awaited Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, into the market today.
This is even as PMS marketers await the sale of the commodity by the refinery this week, since official announcement has yet to come from the organisation.
However, multiple sources told MBN that the Company may still commence the crude supply this month, adding, however that the multiple crisis facing the company are real distractions that are impacting negatively on its operations.