Nigerian Government Overlooks Dangote Refinery in Favor of Crude Oil Exports to Indonesia.

According to Rabiu Umar, Group Chief Commercial Officer at Dangote Industries Limited, the Nigerian government allegedly overlooked the Refinery's ability to export crude oil to Indonesia and import completed goods from the same nation. Umar said this in a Monday interview with Channels Television.

He mentioned that this is happening even though Nigeria cannot supply the Dangote Refinery with enough crude oil, which uses 650,000 barrels per day. “While we are going to import cargoes abroad, most of the cargo from Nigeria is sold to Indonesia. So the question is, does it make sense to take cargo from Nigeria to sell to Indonesia and then you are also importing the same finished product to Nigeria? It does not make sense to me,” he said.

Umar expects to see an improved supply of crude oil to domestic refineries. Nonetheless, he restated that the Dangote Refinery will start supplying fuel domestically in August 2024.

This event coincides with the ongoing standoff over subpar products between the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Dangote Refinery. Remember how the CEO of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, claimed last week that Dangote products were subpar?

In the meantime, Rabiu made it clear that the goods produced by Dangote Refinery are not inferior; rather, they rank among the greatest in the world. Ahmed's claim that Dangote Refinery's goods were subpar had previously been rejected by the refinery's owner, Aliko Dangote.