Dangote Refinery delays start date for petrol supply amid fuel scarcity

The anticipated start date for Dangote Refinery’s domestic petrol supply has been postponed from mid-August 2024, as initially planned.

Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group, had previously announced that the refinery would begin petrol distribution between August 10 and 12.

This timeline had already been revised from an earlier July start date.

While no official reason for the delay has been provided, sources suggest that the postponement is linked to ongoing issues with crude oil supply.

The refinery, which has a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is reportedly facing significant challenges in sourcing adequate crude oil.

“The initiation of fuel supply this August is still on the table, but the current crude supply crisis is creating hurdles,” an anonymous source revealed.

Compounding the situation, there has been a recent dispute between Dangote Group and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) over the supply of 26 million barrels of crude oil.
The NUPRC had claimed to have facilitated these crude cargoes for Dangote Refinery from January to June 2024. However, Dangote Group has contested this, asserting that it did not receive the barrels and accusing both NUPRC and International Oil Companies of hindering its fuel production plans.

This issue persists despite President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive for crude oil sales to be conducted in Naira to support local refineries.

In response to the ongoing regulatory challenges, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has voiced concerns.

Muda Yusuf, the CPPE Director, criticized the regulatory obstacles faced by Nigerian manufacturers and called for more discretion from regulatory bodies.