Edun, Lokpobiri, Kyari, Others Meet on NNPCL’s Crude Sales Initiative to Local Refineries in Naira

•Dangote Refinery Disowns N600/Litre Petrol, Says No Price Fixed Yet

•Dumebi Kachikwu: It’s illogical for anyone to want to frustrate Dangote Refinery

Ndubuisi Francis, Emmanuel Addeh and Chuks Okocha in Abuja

To ensure the full implementation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to sell crude oil to the Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, yesterday met with relevant stakeholders for the actualisation of the policy objective of the federal government.

This comes as the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the 2023 general elections, Dumebi Kachikwu, yesterday, said there was no sabotage against the Dangote Refinery but rather, the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, only stepped into an industry where there are bigger players, different from Nigeria’s food and cement sectors, where he had dominance.

The meeting between Edun and the stakeholders, which held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Abuja, brought together important stakeholders, including the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator  Heineken Lokpobiri meeting; Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mr. Mele Kyari; Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji; the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Lydia Shehu Jafiya and other notable participants, provided an opportunity for in-depth discussions, which underscored longstanding challenges within the petroleum sector.

Although details of the meeting were not available, a statement by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Ministry of Finance, Mohammed Manga stated: “This initiative aims at strengthening the domestic economy as well as supporting the sustainable operations of local refineries, including the Dangote Refinery.

“As the meeting drew to a close, a sense of strong confidence and collective purpose filled the air with Edun expressing optimism that with the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders, this groundbreaking initiative will empower local refineries, stimulate economic growth, and redefine the nation’s petroleum landscape.

“By harnessing the collaborative spirit of key stakeholders, Nigeria is poised to witness a transformative shift in its economic trajectory.

“Thus, the country is set to unlock new opportunities, overcome longstanding challenges, and emerge stronger.

“The Naira Crude Sales initiative marks a significant milestone in Nigeria’s journey towards economic prosperity, and all eyes are on the promising future that lies ahead.”

Tinubu had on July 27, directed the NNPCL to sell crude to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira.

The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, who disclosed this had stated: “To ensure the stability of the pump price of refined fuel and the Dollar-Naira exchange rate, the Federal Executive Council today adopted a proposal by President Tinubu to sell crude to Dangote Refinery and other upcoming refineries in Naira.

“Afreximbank and other settlement banks in Nigeria will facilitate the trade between Dangote and NNPC Limited. The game-changing intervention will eliminate the need for international letters of credit. It will also save the country billions of dollars used in importing refined fuel.”

Meanwhile, Dumebi Kachikwu, has said that there was no sabotage against the Dangote Refinery but rather, Aliko only stepped into an industry where there are bigger players, different from Nigeria’s food and cement sectors.

He said this in an interview on ARISE NEWS yesterday, while responding to the allegations of sabotage against the Dangote Refinery.

Giving his take on the matter, Kachikwu said, “Dangote has operated in a space for the longest time in the food sector where he’s akin to being a monopoly. He’s operated in the cement sector where he’s probably part of a duopoly.

“This is the first time Dangote is entering waters where you have mega players, probably bigger than his company is, and he cannot understand that Dangote the superstar in food production or cement production is not a superstar in oil and gas where you have the likes of Shell, Mobil and the rest. So, I think that that’s one of the issues that is at play here.”

Addressing the allegations of conspiracy against the Dangote Refinery, he said, “I don’t believe that it’s in the government’s interest, in a country that is suffering a foreign exchange crisis, to frustrate a Dangote Refinery when it’s in their interest to have domestic production so we don’t spend all the dollars we’re spending every month to import oil. So, I don’t understand why anyone would think that.

“And again, when people have made allegations that people have conspired to frustrate Dangote Refinery – let me ask a question, if all the refineries in the world, barring none, are importing oil from different parts of the world, why will anyone want to frustrate a refinery in Nigeria which is going to be like the other players who can import oil from any part of the world? It doesn’t make any sense to me. So, I believe that the argument is emotive.

“We do understand that our government has failures – serious systemic failures, serious operational failures – but we don’t have to bring that into every conversation, because in this conversation, that’s not what the issue is, especially when the government has come, brought out figures to say this is what we allocated to the different refineries, and if we do understand that the government has forward sold a lot of oil that they should have at this moment because their refineries were not working, that’s the conversation.”

He added, “I don’t think we are on the right path when we make this whole issue about government, NUPRC, NNPC not giving Dangote enough crude oil. I believe that because this matter got into the public space, sentiments entered it and it’s being blown out of proportion.

“When you have a refinery as large as Dangote’s refinery, because when it’s fully on stream, that’s going to be the seventh largest refinery in the world, you have to have planned or forecasted properly, you have to had, four years before, have your contracts in place.”

Kachikwu also spoke on Dangote Refinery complaining about not receiving the 29 million barrels of oil that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) claimed to have allocated to the refinery, saying, “We hear that something was promised Dangote. In the oil and gas sector, you don’t work with promises, you work with contracts. Does Dangote have contracts with anybody for that product?

“If he does have a contract, and if they failed to meet their contractual obligations, Dangote can head to court. I suspect that there might not be any contract.”

Also, the Dangote Refinery yesterday disowned remarks by some oil marketers that it was set to begin the sale of petrol at about N600 to N650 per litre of the product.

The 650,000 barrels per day facility located in Lagos, in a statement by the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, stated that it had not entered into any form of communication with the oil marketers concerning pricing of petrol.

Urging the public to desist from speculative announcements, the management of the Dangote Refinery stressed that it had never discussed the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol with the marketers.

The Independent Petroleum Marketers in Nigeria (IPMAN), according to a report on Tuesday had said they were hoping that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery will sell its petrol at N600 or N650/litre when it is finally released into the market this month.

Dealers under the umbrella of the organisation said they believed that the Dangote refinery would crash the price of petrol as it did with diesel when it begins operating as expected.

The report quoted the IPMAN National Vice President, Hammed Fashola, as saying that that the $20 billion refinery would bring down the cost of fuel if it gets the needed support, especially as it has to do with crude supply.

According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) which is currently the sole importer of petrol had been selling to marketers at N570/litre, but most IPMAN members buy from private depot owners at N700 and above.

However, in the statement late yesterday, the Dangote Refinery stated that it has its own media of communication outlet if it wanted to reach its audience, pointing out that IPMAN was not the company’s spokesman.

“Our attention has been drawn to headlines announcing ‘Marketers Project N600/litre for Dangote Petrol’ published in Punch Newspapers of Tuesday August 13,2024.

“We would like to clarify that Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) is not our business partner yet. We have never discussed price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) with them, and they have no mandate or authority to speak for us, either for good or with hidden transcript.

“We urge the public to desist from such speculative announcements. We have our official channels through which we make our views known to our stakeholders,” the statement released last night explained.