Dons EzeSUDDEN SURGE IN NIGERIA’S PETROLEUM IMPORTS FROM MALTA
SUDDEN SURGE IN NIGERIA’S PETROLEUM IMPORTS FROM MALTA Nigeria’s petroleum importation from Malta surged significantly to $2.8 billion in 2023. Nigeria is one of Africa’s biggest oil-producing nations — but it lacks local refining capacity. Speaking at an event in May, Vice-President Kashim Shettima had said over $25 billion is expended on the importation of refined petroleum products yearly. The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is the sole importer of petroleum products in the country. According to data from Trademap, a database on international trade statistics, between 2017 and 2022, there were no imports of the commodity from Malta — an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea. However, the value of imported petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals was $13.32 million in 2016. This represents a 20,921 percent increase compared to the amount ($2.8 billion) recorded in 2023, according to TheCable Index analysis. Further checks showed that the importation of petroleum products from Malta gulped $47.5 million in 2013. The amount increased to $59.98 million and $117.01 million in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Similar import figures were also shared on social media by StatiSense, a data company. On July 22, Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, said some personnel of the NNPC Limited, oil traders and terminals have opened a blending plant in Malta. “Some of the terminals, some of the NNPC people and some traders have opened a blending plant somewhere off Malta,” the billionaire had said. “We all know these areas. We know what they are doing.” In response to Dangote’s allegation, Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer (GCEO) of the NNPC, said he does not own a blending plant in Malta.An oil blending plant is a facility which has no refining capability but is either capable of producing finished motor gasoline through mechanical blending or blends oxygenates with motor gasoline.
EZEKWESILI CALLS FOR AUDIT OF DANGOTE-NNPC BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
EZEKWESILI CALLS FOR AUDIT OF DANGOTE-NNPC BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has called for an independent audit of business dealings between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the Dangote Refinery. This is as the Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group and owner of the Dangote Refinery, Aliko Dangote, last week, revealed that NNPCL had capped its equity in the Dangote Petroleum Refinery at 7.2 per cent instead of the speculated 20 per cent. “The agreement was actually 20 per cent which we had with NNPC, and they did not pay the balance of the money up till last year; then we gave them another extension up till June (2024), and they said that they would remain where they have already paid, which is 7.2 per cent. So NNPC owns only 7.2 per cent, not 20 per cent.” [/b]Dangote stated. [b]NNPC confirmed this, saying it decided not to invest further in the refinery. Reacting to the controversies, Ezekwesili said she had earlier decided not to speak on the Dangote refinery-NNPC saga. “However, as more and more information filtered out from both parties, we can reasonably conclude that something seriously murky has gone on and needs to be fully unravelled for public accountability. And urgently, too,” she stated. The former minister added, “How can a project that by all definition attained the stature of a ‘national interest project’ be marred in this depth of embarrassing controversy that is playing out in the full glare of the local and international investing community? “Did the Nigerian government not tell us it borrowed $3.3bn from Afriexim-Bank to take a stake in the Dangote refinery?” Ezekwesili recalled that during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, she told the NNPC that it could not run as a federation on its own. “When we were in government, I often told the NNPC leadership that they cannot carry on as though there is a ‘Federal Republic of the NNPC’ just because they think of themselves as ‘the goose that lays the golden egg’. “The opacity of the NNPC was the reason we took great delight in designing the multi-stakeholders Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency International in those early 2000s that I pioneered as Chairperson. “We went above global minimum voluntary standards of transparency requirements by entrenching ours in an Act that established NEITI as the transparency regulator of the oil and minerals sector,” she explained. She called on President Bola Tinubu “to immediately use the instrumentality of NEITI to launch an independent audit of the Dangote refinery-NNPC transaction to offer the public the true state of play.” Dangote had also alleged that some top officials of the NNPCL own blending plants in Malta. Dangote had said, “Some of the terminals, some of the NNPC people, and some traders have opened blending plants somewhere off Malta. We all know these areas. We know what they are doing.” Reacting to this, Kyari said he had been inundated with calls from family members and friends, asking if he truly owns a blending plant in Malta.Kyari denied the allegationThe NNPC helmsman said he does not own or operate any business directly or by proxy anywhere in the world, except for a local mini-agric venture.
JONATHAN GAVE DANGOTE, OTHERS TOO MUCH WAIVERS, DESTROYED SMALL BUSINESSES – YESUFU
JONATHAN GAVE DANGOTE, OTHERS TOO MUCH WAIVERS, DESTROYED SMALL BUSINESSES – YESUFU A social critic, Aisha Yesufu has said that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave Aliko Dangote and other rich so much waivers during his tenure. Yesufu said the action consequently destroyed small businesses in the process. Her statement comes amid an alleged soured relationship between Dangote and the regulators of the nation’s oil industry. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority recently said that the Dangote refinery has not been licensed to begin operations in the country. However, in a post on her social media handle on Monday, Yesufu said there was also a lot of money laundering through predatory pricing that took a lot of businesses down.She said: “We are eager to forget and romanticize the past. GEJ gave Dangote and co so much waivers and destroyed small businesses in the process. There was also a lot of money laundering through predatory pricing that took a lot of businesses down.”
NIGERIAN GOVT SNUBS DANGOTE REFINERY, EXPORTS CRUDE OIL TO INDONESIA
NIGERIAN GOVT SNUBS DANGOTE REFINERY, EXPORTS CRUDE OIL TO INDONESIA The Group Chief Commercial Officer at Dangote Industries Limited, Rabiu Umar has said the Nigerian government neglected Dangote Refinery to export crude oil to Indonesia and import finished products from the same country. Umar disclosed this in an interview with Channels Television on Monday. He stated that this is coming despite the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery’s inability to get adequate crude oil supply in Nigeria. “Whilst we are going to import cargoes abroad. Most of the cargo from Nigeria is sold to Indonesia. So the question is, does it make sense to take cargo from Nigeria to sell to Indonesia and then you are also importing the same finished product to Nigeria? It does not make sense to me”, he said. He added, “We expect to see an improved supply of crude oil to domestic refineries”. He, however, reiterated that Dangote Refinery will commence the domestic supply of fuel in August 2024. The development comes amid the recent impasse between the Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority over substandard products. Recall that last week, Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA stated that Dangote products were inferior. Meanwhile, Rabiu clarified that Dangote Refinery products are not substandard but rather among the best in the World.Earlier, Aliko Dangote, the owner of Dangote Refinery had also dismissed Ahmed’s statement that its products were inferior.
NO MORE BUYING FUEL AT HIGH PRICES – FG
NO MORE BUYING FUEL AT HIGH PRICES – FG The Nigerian federal government has announced the end of the era of high fuel prices, with the launch of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative aimed at providing a cost-effective and sustainable alternative fuel for transportation. Michael Oluwagbemi, Project Director and CEO of the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, made the announcement during the Park to Park CNG Mobilisation programme in Lagos. According to Oluwagbemi, the government plans to commission 30,000 CNG-powered vehicles within the next 90 days, with a long-term target of distributing one million conversion kits. “Today, we are here with conversion kits. We have bought over 30,000 of these kits, mainly for distribution in the next 90 days,” he said. The initiative, which aims to promote the adoption of CNG as a sustainable alternative fuel, will cost N36 billion to provide 30,000 CNG conversion kits for free nationwide. Each conversion kit, including installation costs, is valued at N1.2 million per vehicle. Oluwagbemi assured Nigerians that with the adoption of CNG, fuel prices would significantly decrease.”The era of buying N750, N800, or N1,000 per liter fuel is over. We are not doing that again. We will start using the gas under our feet so that we can buy it at N230 per kilogram,” he stated.
ONE OF MY FRIENDS WHO STARTED INVESTING ABROAD HAS BEEN TAUNTING ME – DANGOTE
ONE OF MY FRIENDS WHO STARTED INVESTING ABROAD HAS BEEN TAUNTING ME – DANGOTE Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, says one of his friends who started investing abroad four years ago, has been taunting him over the back and forth with the government in recent times. Dangote has been having issues with the government over his refinery project in Lagos. He had earlier narrated how a cabal was blocking his moves to import crude and how it has been difficult to get products, slowing down operations. But last week, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the Nigerian government was yet to license the Dangote refinery to begin operations in the country. Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive officer (CEO) of NMDPRA, disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the state House on Thursday. According to Ahmed, the claims of ongoing efforts to scuttle the operations of Dangote refinery due to lack of supply of crude oil by International Oil Companies were not true, adding that the refinery was still at the pre-commissioning stage and has not been licensed yet. Ahmed added that the diesel product of Dangote was below international standard, a claim which the businessman refuted during an interactive session at the weekend. In an interview with online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES, Dangote narrated how a friend whom he tried to talk into being patriotic about Nigeria is now taunting him. “Four years ago, one of my very wealthy friends began to invest his money abroad. I disagreed with him and urged him to rethink his action in the interest of his country. He blamed his action on policy inconsistencies and shenanigans of interest groups. That friend has been taunting me in the past few days, saying he warned me and that he has been proven right,” Dangote was quoted to have said. He emphasised that he invested in the project to help solve a major issue in the country, wondering why some persons were working against him. “As you probably know, I am 67 years old, in less than three years, I will be 70. I need very little to live the rest of my life. I can’t take the refinery or any other property or asset to my grave. Everything I do is in the interest of my country.” “We have been facing fuel crisis since the 70s. This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery. “This refinery can help in resolving the problem but it does appear some people are uncomfortable that I am in the picture. So I am ready to let go, let the NNPC buy me out, run the refinery. At least the country will have high-quality products and create jobs,” he added. The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery, which came to life last year after a decade of prolonged construction, cost $19 billion, more than double the initial estimate, promising to help wean Africa’s biggest oil producer off its reliance on fuel from overseas and save up 30 per cent of the total foreign exchange spent on importing goods.
DANGOTE CALLS OFF PLAN TO INVEST IN STEEL, DISCOURAGED BY GOVERNMENT, CABAL
DANGOTE CALLS OFF PLAN TO INVEST IN STEEL, DISCOURAGED BY GOVERNMENT, CABAL Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is calling off plans to invest in a new steel plant in Nigeria after the government accused him of seeking to become a monopoly with his new refinery in the West African nation. Dangote said, “let others that have more money than us go and bring their money from Dubai and invest in their fatherland.”“Our own board has decided that we should not have the steel plant. If we do, we will be called all sorts of names,” Dangote said at a media briefing Saturday at the refinery in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub.
DANGOTE REFINERY’S PETROLEUM PRODUCTS INFERIOR – NMDPRA
DANGOTE REFINERY’S PETROLEUM PRODUCTS INFERIOR – NMDPRA The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, has said that the quality of petroleum products from the Dangote refinery, as well as those from Watersmith, Aradel, and other modular refineries, is inferior compared to imported ones. Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA Farouk Ahmed disclosed this in a recent interview with journalists, a video of which was published by TVC. The regulator boss discarded reports that some elements within the oil and gas sector were trying to scuttle the Dangote Refinery. According to him, the 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery has not been issued an operational licence by NMDPRA. He noted that the Lagos-based Dangote Refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage and about 45 per cent completed. Ahmed added that the country cannot risk dependence on Dangote Refinery by suspending petroleum products, especially Automotive Gas Oil and Dual Purpose Kerosene, DPK. He said: “That is not so. Dangote Refinery is still in the pre-commissioning stage. It has not been licenced yet. We haven’t licenced them yet. I think they are about 45 per cent to completion. “We cannot rely on one refinery to feed the nation, because Dangote is requesting that we suspend or stop imports, especially of AGO and DPK, and direct all marketers to his refinery. That is not good for the nation in terms of energy security, and it is not good for the market because of the monopoly.” Ahmed said that in terms of quality, Dangote’s current AGO (diesel) suffers from the lowest quality in terms of sulphur content, falling short of West Africa’s requirement of 50 parts per million (PPM). “Dangote Refinery, as well as some modular refineries like Watersmith Refinery and Aradel Refinery, are producing between 650 and 1,200 PPM. Therefore, in terms of quality, their products are inferior to imported ones,” he stated. This development comes days after the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said Dangote Refinery is set to commence fuel supply in August 2024. Earlier, Devakumar Edwin, the Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, had alleged that most fuel products imported into Nigeria are substandard. He also accused international oil companies of frustrating the kickoff of the Dangote Refinery by selling oil crude at a higher price in Nigeria.However, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission dismissed Edwin’s claim of substandard petroleum products in Nigeria.
DANGOTE REFINERY TO ROLL OUT PETROL IN AUGUST, RESOLVES CRUDE SUPPLY ISSUES
DANGOTE REFINERY TO ROLL OUT PETROL IN AUGUST, RESOLVES CRUDE SUPPLY ISSUES President of the Dangote Refinery, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, says the refinery is now set to roll out its petrol from August 2024, having resolved its crude oil supply issues through the help of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the federal government. Dangote told senior journalists in Lagos on Sunday that the crude supply challenge, which affected the supply of petrol from the refinery, was resolved last week after the federal government intervened. The journalists were on a guided tour of the refinery, which is located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos. Recently the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) raised an alarm over attempts by international oil companies (IOCs) to frustrate efforts at purchasing crude for the refinery. “While the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)are trying their best to allocate the crude for us, the IOCs are deliberately and willfully frustrating our efforts to buy the local crude,” the Vice President, Oil and Gas at DIL, Devakumar Edwin, told energy editors in June. “It seems that the objective is to ensure that our Petroleum Refinery fails. It is either they are deliberately asking for ridiculous/humongous premium or, they simply state that crude is not available. “At some point, we paid $6 over and above the market price. This has forced us to reduce our output as well as import crude from countries as far as the US, increasing our cost of production.” Fertiliser productionBeyond resolving the crude supply issues and announcing plans to roll out petrol in August, Alhaji Dangote also told journalists that the refinery’s fertiliser unit would resume production in two weeks. This would give farmers more access to fertiliser for their farm products. Dangote told over 70 journalists who were part of the refinery tour that there was a massive request for fertiliser from Nigerians and the rest of Africa, so his group had no choice but to respond positively.
FG APPROVES METERING SYSTEM FOR CRUDE OIL FLOW
FG APPROVES METERING SYSTEM FOR CRUDE OIL FLOW In a major move towards reforming Nigeria’s energy sector, the federal government has approved a contract for the construction of metering system for all the crude oil flow stations in the energy sector. The approval for the contract was awarded by the Federal Executive Council chaired by President Bola Tinubu. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) Heineken Lokpobiri, made the announcement during a press briefing on Friday in Abuja. He said that the contract awarded would be for a period of 180 days, adding that the move would enable the country meter about 187 of the flow station. The move is coming at a time when stakeholders in the oil and gas sector had blamed faulty metering procedures, faulty instruments and lack of technology as some of the impediments to the efforts in tackling crude oil theft. In recent time, pipelines, well heads, and flow stations have been the major targets of oil thieves in Nigeria. Currently, there are no proper digitalised monitoring of the metering of the crude oil produced for export. Speaking on the development, Lokpobiri said that the metering would enable the government to boost crude oil production as well as increase federation revenue. He put the cost of the contract for the metering project at about $21m, adding that this is the first time in the history of the country where flow station will be having a digital metering system. He said the metering project is in line with the agenda of the government to ensure transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector..