Dangote accuses IOCs of manipulating crude oil prices, plotting refinery’s failure

Vice President, Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Devakumar Edwin, has accused international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria of doing everything to frustrate the survival of Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals.

Edwin said IOCs were deliberately and willfully frustrating the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by jerking up the high premium price above the market price, thereby forcing it to import crude from countries as far as the United States, with its attendant high costs. He made this known while speaking to a group of Energy Editors at a one-day training programme, organised by the Dangote Group.

Edwin also lamented the activity of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), in granting licences, indiscriminately to marketers to import dirty refined products into the country.

“The Federal Government issued 25 licences to build refineries and we are the only one that delivered on the promise. In effect, we deserve every support from the government. It is good to note that from the start of production, more than 3.5 billion litres, which represents 90 per cent of our production, have been exported. We are calling on the Federal Government and regulators to give us the necessary support to create jobs and prosperity for the nation.”

He emphasised that while the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is trying its best to allocate the crude for us, the IOCs are deliberately and willfully frustrating our efforts to buy the local crude.

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