Dangote Refinery Only 45% Completed; Products Inferior, Not Licensed – NMDPRA

Farouk Ahmed, The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Farouk Ahmed, says Nigeria cannot rely on products from the Dangote refinery.

According to him, the quality of the refinery’s  products was inferior compared to the imported quality products.

While denying claims that the agency was trying to scuttle Dangote Refinery, he said the agency was concerned about the nationwide supply of petroleum products if the country relied on the refinery alone.

Besides, he said Dangote Refinery was still in the pre-commissioning stage and had not been licensed yet. “It hasn’t been licensed yet,” he added.

“I think we have about 45% completion. We cannot rely heavily 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 suffers from the lowest quality in terms of sulphur content, falling short of West Africa’s requirement of 50 PPM.

“Dangote Refinery, along with other major refineries, produces between six hundred and fifty to one thousand two hundred parts per million (PPM). Therefore, in terms of quality, their products are inferior to imported ones,“ he said.

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