People with knowledge of the situation have said that Dangote Refinery is not meeting its September petrol delivery target of 25 million litres per day to the country.
Premium Times reported that that the refinery was only able to supply 10,297,766 (about 10.3 million litres) using its gantry loading system in three days, as opposed to the anticipated delivery of 75 million litres.
With that amount, the refinery showed a three-day supply deficit of about 65 million litres, which analysts say poses a risk to the country’s energy security.
According to NNPC officials, if the government does not take immediate action, Nigeria could face a serious energy crisis with growing gasoline shortages.
The official who spoke anonymously said,
According to loading data, Premium Times reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Retail Limited (NNPC Retail Ltd) received 2,486,842 (2.48 million) liters of petrol in 56 trucks from the Dangote Refinery on September 15, the first day of loading.
NNPC Retail loaded 50 trucks on September 16 with 2,221,773 (2.2 million) liters of gasoline. 1,120,465 (1.1 million) litres of the product were put onto 24 lorries by another marketer, AYM Shafa. 74 trucks were loaded during the course of the day, and 3,342,238 (3.3 million) liters of product were received in total.
On September 17, the product supply did, however, slightly increase, but it was still considerably below forecasts. On the same day, AYM Shafa was only able to load one truck, carrying 44,999 liters of the commodity, whereas NNPC Retail Ltd received 4,063,526 (4 million) liters in 89 vehicles. NIPCO used eight trucks to haul out 360,161 liters of petrol.
The total number of trucks loaded for the day was 98, conveying 4,468,686 (about 4.5 million) litres of the product.
Earlier in September, the federal government said the Dangote Refinery would supply Nigeria’s domestic market with 25 million litres of petrol daily and 35 million litres daily from October.
But data obtained by Premium Time indicated that in three days, less than 10.3 million litres were lifted from the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery.
The Dangote Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina blamed the current slow loading speed on NNPCL, which he said needed to send more trucks to lift the product.
For instance, the state-owned oil company only sent 67 trucks on 15 September instead of the 300 trucks it claimed to have dispatched to the facility to load the product, Mr Chiejina said.
When asked why the refinery is yet to commence vessel loading, Mr Chiejina said he was not aware that the NNPC had requested vessel loading.
TimesNow.com.ng reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had said that oil marketers could not import or buy petrol from Dangote refinery because the product was not viable and cost-reflective.
Dapo Segun, executive vice president of the NNPC’s downstream division, said no one was excluded from petrol imports.
He said the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had approved import permits.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at TimesNow.com.ng
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
