Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, says some international oil companies (IOCs) are struggling to supply crude to Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Dangote spoke on CNN’s ‘Connecting Africa’ programme, which aired on June 3.
Asked if domestic oil companies have been supplying crude to the refinery, he said “there are challenges”.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has said it would mandate international oil companies to supply crude oil to Dangote oil refinery.
The spokesperson for the NUPRC, Olaide Shonola, said the
commission was intervening to ensure the local sale of crude to Dangote and
other refineries in the country.
Shonola stated this while reacting to a claim by the
Chairman of the Dangote Group that the international oil companies were not
ready to sell crude to the refinery.
In an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday, Shonola said the
NUPRC would mandate the IOCs to sell to the Dangote refinery, with clear
directives that this must be done.
“We’ve been intervening and intervening. I am sure you’re
aware of a recent meeting that was held with them on domestic crude oil supply.
We will keep engaging them, NUPRC has been doing that.
“I can’t say we will force them, but as the regulator, we
can mandate. And that’s what we are doing, giving clear directives that this
must be done. We will just keep on engaging and you will agree with me that
most of these things have to be planned. We will keep on engaging. We will do
our regulatory function in that area,” she stated.
Asked whether there would be sanctions, Shinola declined
comments.
“We will mandate them, as in, give clear directives based on
our regulatory functions,” she emphasised.
In an interview with CNN, Aliko Dangote said international
oil companies in Nigeria were not ready to sell crude oil to the 650,000
barrels capacity oil refinery.
According to him, the international oil companies were used
to exporting crude for foreign exchange and they were not ready to stop.
Dangote said though the Nigerian National Petroleum Company
Ltd was doing its best to supply feedstock to the refinery, the IOCs wanted to
sell outside the country.
“The NNPC is doing its best, but some of the IOCs, they are
struggling to give us crude, everybody is used to exporting and nobody wants to
stop exporting,” he stated.
The business mogul said Africa was not growing because it
sells raw materials to the Western world and buys the same as finished goods.
“Africa is not going the way it should because we export raw
materials and import finished goods. It doesn’t matter what it is, even if it
is gold or whatever, raw material is always priced at a ridiculous amount
compared to finished goods,” Dangote said.
He regretted that some individuals benefitting from oil
import did not want the refinery to succeed.
Dangote disclosed that the refinery would take about 21
million barrels of crude oil from Nigeria every month, adding that 21 ships of
crude would no longer import or export oil into Africa
“Almost 21 ships will no longer leave the African continent,
either from Nigeria or Angola, we will be able to take those crudes and be able
to refine and distribute the product. I feel very proud as an African that we
have been able to demonstrate that it can be done, and we’ve done it.
“If we take all the crudes from Nigeria, it means we will
take 21 million barrels per month and that will also help in terms of reducing
the C02 emissions. Rather than ships
coming from Europe to bring in products, or the ships going out of Nigeria, 21
ships going out of Nigeria every month, and then you have the product coming
into Nigeria. In totality, when you
calculate, you are talking about 480 ships of 1 million barrels,” he noted.
In April, the NUPRC issued a new rule requiring oil
producers to sell crude to domestic refineries before attending to foreign
demands.
It appears the IOCs are not obeying this directive.