By Haruna Ahmed
The management of Dangote Refinery says the free distribution of fuel by the company will continue as earlier planned notwithstanding certain misgivings about it.
The company said in a statement that the recent criticisms from certain oil and gas industry associations were strategically aimed at undermining their planned initiative for distributing free fuel.
The statement reads: “have made it abundantly clear that the actions and threats issued by them is not borne out of legitimate concerns about unionisation, but a calculated campaign of economic sabotage that is orchestrated by vested interests who perceive progress as a threat to their entrenched positions.
“In January 2022, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) reported that one of DAPPMAN’s members had supplied petrol containing over 15 per cent methanol, well above acceptable limits (Methanol which is not a standard industry practice or procedure for refinery, but blenders use it to prompt up the octane rating to an acceptable level that is well above anti-knocking ratio).
“The result was widespread engine damage for thousands of end users. Yet, no transparent government inquiry or independent investigation was ever conducted to determine the source, intent, or full impact of the adulterated fuel.
“This figure reflects the very scenario that DAPPMAN and its affiliates appear to advocate for in Nigeria. The Dangote Refinery has positioned Nigeria as a primary source of affordable petrol feedstock for West Africa, despite the refinery importing over 60 per cent of the crude oil it processes. Remarkably, the refinery is able to offer petrol at prices below the international benchmark within the sub-Saharan region.
“It is increasingly evident that DAPPMAN and some of its members are disproportionately focused on the importation of refined products, even admitting to round-tripping, whereby petrol produced by the Dangote Refinery is re-imported from Togo into Nigeria at a markup, the statement further revealed another hole in their narrative of being the major supplier of petrol in the country.”
