An energy expert, Dr Tayo Douglas, has revealed details about the inability of Dangote Refinery to meet its promised daily delivery of 25 million litres of petrol.
This shortfall has allegedly led to artificial fuel scarcity, triggering a price hike that has affected Nigerians nationwide.
Douglas made the disclosure in a recent programme on TVC, Your View.
Dangote Refinery touted as a game-changer in Nigeria’s energy landscape, was expected to deliver 25 million litres of petrol per day. However, according to Dr Douglas, the refinery has failed to meet this target, supplying only 7 million litres per day instead.
Douglas said, “Since the inception of the Dangote Refinery, what Nigerians believed was that, oh, the Savior Messiah has come.
“We are not saying Dangote is coming to give us PMS free of charge; no, he’s a businessman, but then various stories, various arguments, various opinions have been thrown here and there without people going into the nitty gritty of the agreement.
“We read that the agreement on the table between Dangote refinery and NNPCL (Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited) was that NNPCL being the off-taker, then, so to speak will be given 25 million litres of petrol per day, and the agreement is supposed to take effect from the 15th of September.
“I can tell you authoritatively that to date, nmcl has not received we have not received up to 7 million litres per day instead of 25 million litres per day.”
The shortfall has created artificial scarcity, driving up prices and causing uncertainty among marketers. Dr. Douglas noted that marketers are frustrated, unsure of what to do, and hesitant to make payments due to the unclear market situation.
“marketers are now frustrated they were not receiving anything. They don’t even know what to do some are even afraid to even put their head in so they not making any payment because they don’t even know what the markets look like now an artificial scarcity has been created and when there is scarcity then what do we expect high rise in cost,” he said.
Among other details, Douglas said Nigeria’s daily petrol consumption is estimated at over 45 million litres. He urged Dangote to disclose the price of its petrol and production costs, particularly with the naira-for-crude initiative aimed at reducing prices.
Earlier reports hinted at Dangote Refinery’s struggles to meet its commitments. The report followed the rollout of petrol at the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery in September.
The report said the refinery supplied only 10.3 million litres instead of the promised 75 million litres over three days, resulting in a 65 million litre shortfall.
An NNPC official had given a warning then that Nigeria would face a fuel shortage crisis if the government failed to intervene promptly.
