Stakeholders berate NNPC over state of its refineries

Mkpoikana Udoma

Port Harcourt — Reactions have begun to trail the commencement of crude oil refining activities at the 650,000barrels per day capacity Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, as stakeholders have berated NNPC Ltd over the state of the nation’s four refineries.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery had announced the commencement of production of diesel and aviation fuel, after taking delivery of 6 million barrels of crude oil from NNPC Ltd between December 12, 2023, and January 8, 2024.

Stakeholders, who applauded the coming on stream of the Dangote refinery, said the Federal Government and NNPC Ltd should be ashamed that while they have been unable to manage the nation’s four refineries, they were scrambling to retail refined products from the Dangote refinery.

Speaking separately and exclusively to our correspondent in Port Harcourt, stakeholders and energy analysts recalled that seven major marketers, including NNPC Retail Ltd, have registered to lift refined products from the Dangote refinery.

An energy marketing specialist, Dr Joseph Obele, noted that aviation fuel and diesel from Dangote Refinery were ready for marketing, although the company was also launching a forward integration strategy to storm the market directly with petroleum products.

Obel, who is also a lecturer in marketing at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, urged Dangote to extend the registration of off-takers from seven major marketers to include independent marketers, to avoid price rigging.

“The implication of the forward integration marketing strategy by Dangote Group is that most retail outlets will be out of business following the inability to withstand intense competition with Dangote. This will lead to numerous job losses, franchising of retail outlets to the Dangote brand and rapid sales of most filling stations by owners.

“Hopefully, the first stocks from Dangote Refinery will hit the Nigeria market in the next few days.

Unfortunately, the seven accredited off-takers so far by Dangote are all major marketers. The impact of distribution in the downstream sector is felt via competition occasioned by independent marketers.

“I hereby call on the management of Dangote Group to extend the registration of offtake marketers to key independent marketers giving competition to the major as against price rigging.

“The ugly scenario on the list of seven marketers as published by Dangote is the name NNPC on the list. I doubt if NNPC management has shame. What is the justification for boldly subscribing to be a buyer to Dangote Refinery, aftee mismanaging and shutting down Nigeria’s four owned refineries for so many years?” he stated.

Similarly, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC-Nigeria, has urged NNPC Ltd to also bring the Port Harcourt Refinery on board to complement products from the Dangote Refinery with a view of making the products available to Nigerians with a possibility of pump price reduction.

Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Mr Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, who urged the management of Dangote Group to ensure the refinery does not contribute to environmental pollution, further tasked Dangote to be pro-poor by making domestic kerosene available to the masses.

He said: “While appreciating Dangote Refinery for coming on stream to alleviate the energy challenges that we faced in the country and create jobs for the youths, the refinery should endeavour not to contribute to environment pollution, especially the discharge of effluent into the ocean and water bodies around its area of operation.

“The NNPCL should ensure sustainable production in the Dangote Refinery by supplying more crude oil to the refinery so that at the exhaustion of the 6 million barrels it has so far received, there will be continuous production to address shortages of products across the country.

“Dangote refinery should try to be a pro-poor refinery in its production by prioritizing DPK which  the poor masses use for their cooking, as NNPCL had over the years failed to either produce or import into the country thus leaving poor Nigerians who depend on DPK, in the hands of illegal oil refiners in the country who meet their energy needs.”

YEAC-Nigeria also warned the government not to think that the coming onstream of the Dangote refinery and the expected commencement of the Port Harcourt refinery would end illegal refineries in the Niger Delta.

Fyneface added: “The way to divert the attention of illegal crude oil refiners from pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft that would affect production in both the Dangote and Port Harcourt refineries is to provide alternative livelihood opportunities for artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta, through issuance of modular refinery licenses to them and modifying, innovating, legalizing and integrating informal artisanal refineries into the national economy through a Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative, PACORDI.”