The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, along with a delegation of lawmakers, visited the Dangote Petroleum Refinery situated in the Lekki Free Trade Zone of Lagos State.
This visit, which commenced at approximately 11 am, was aimed at assessing the refinery’s operations and discussing its readiness to begin fuel supply next month. The delegation was warmly received by Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, and other top executives.
The Dangote Refinery, a $20 billion project with a capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of oil per day, is seen as a significant asset for Nigeria’s energy sector. The lawmakers’ visit is the second high-profile tour of the refinery this year, following a similar visit by the Senate President Godswill Akpaio and other senators in June.
During their tour, the lawmakers were briefed on various aspects of the refinery’s operations and the plans to start supplying petrol. This visit comes just days after Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), raised concerns about the quality of diesel being produced at the refinery.
According to Ahmed, the diesel contains a high sulphur content of about 1,000 parts per million, which is significantly higher than the West African requirement of 50 parts per million.
Ahmed also revealed that the Dangote refinery is still in its pre-commissioning stage and has not yet received an official license to operate fully. Despite this, the refinery has been selling diesel and aviation fuel within Nigeria for several months. He emphasized the necessity of diversifying Nigeria’s fuel supply sources, warning against over-reliance on a single refinery.
“We cannot rely heavily on one refinery to feed the nation,” Ahmed stated. He noted that the refinery had requested to halt the issuance of import licenses to other marketers, a move that could create a monopoly and pose risks to energy security.
In addressing the quality concerns, Ahmed pointed out that the sulphur content in the diesel from the Dangote refinery and other modular refineries, like Waltersmith and Aradel, ranges from 650 to 1,200 parts per million. He emphasized that this is significantly inferior to the imported diesel, which meets the required quality standards.
