* Declaration counters NMDPRA’s position that only 50% can be sourced locally
*I want to be Nigeria’s John D. Rockefeller, says Africa’s richest person
*Zambia seeks Dangote’s investment in its energy sector
President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, revealed at the weekend that his company, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, has over N600 billion worth of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol in storage, to sufficiently and conveniently meet the local needs of Nigeria.
The position of Africa’s richest person, counters that of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) last week, that only 50 per cent can be sourced locally from local petroleum refining facilities.
The Authority maintained that it had continued to grant import licences to oil marketers to ensure that there’s no nationwide fuel scarcity, a position that Dangote has always maintained is not correct. Dangote is currently in court to compel the industry regulator to halt granting of incessant licences for fuel import.
This is just as the Zambian government has said that it is seeking Dangote’s investment in the country’s energy sector.
Speaking over the weekend during a tour of the refinery complex by a Zambia Government delegation, led by the country’s Minister of Energy, Mr. Makozo Chikote, Dangote disclosed the oil refinery has more than half a billion litres of petroleum and over N600 billion worth of products in its tanks.
He said: “As we speak right now, we have more than half a billion litres. The refinery is producing enough refined products, like gasoline (petrol), diesel, and kerosene, to meet 100 per cent of Nigeria’s requirements.”
He noted that the refinery project, like other projects in the past, is not for Nigeria alone. Nigeria currently consumes an average of 50 million litres of petrol, according to data from the NMDPRA.
“This refinery is not only for Nigeria; it is for Africa. We must sustain the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) deal. We are trying to see how we trade with other African countries,” Dangote revealed.
Speaking with journalists, the Zambian Minister of Energy, Chikote, said his takeaway from the Dangote Refinery working visit was that Dangote, is truly focused on the bigger picture for Africa.
Chikote, who led a delegation of energy experts to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to partner Zambia on energy solutions, expressed satisfaction and readiness to work with the African manufacturing giant.
After a tour of the Dangote complex at the Free Trade Zone, Ibeju Lekki, starting from the Single Point Mooring to the Dangote Jetty, the biggest fertiliser plant in Africa and the 650,000bpd largest single-train refinery in the world, the minister enthused that the presentation by the Vice President, Oil and Gas of Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Edwin Devakumar made their hearts “jump”.
He said: “In Zambia, we created an environment for the private sector to participate in the growth and development of our country. Currently, 100 per cent of our petroleum is done by the private sector.
“We are targeting increased productivity in mining, agriculture, and other sectors. Your presentation is an immediate solution to our energy needs. We are trying to promote competition among our private players
“We are looking at Dangote coming on board, which would lead to efficient, reliable, quality, and competitive products, and we want these done like yesterday. Coming to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, we have learned so many advantages of bringing many players for competition, which has improved the lives of the citizens,” he said.
The Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, Edwin Devakumar, stated that the refinery produces the best quality products as its core business strategy.
“The project concept was to process the crude from Nigeria and add value. But we also wanted to provide some flexibility to process most of the African crudes and some of the Middle Eastern crudes,” Edwin said.
He added: “In another concept, what we did was maximum value extraction. That is a process where every barrel of crude which goes in, the value addition should be the best.”
According to Edwin, the Refinery can meet all Nigeria’s fuel requirements with just 44 per cent, and 56 per cent of the production would be exported.
“Every day, we produce lighter products of 104 million litres; 57 million litres of petrol every day; 20 million litres of jet fuel; and 27 million litres of diesel production. The local consumption is just around 46 million litres, and the remaining 58 million litres will be exported daily,” he said.
Meanwhile, Africa’s richest person, Dangote, has said that he wants to become Nigeria’s John D. Rockefeller, using his wealth to transform his homeland, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report has said.
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist, best known for founding Standard Oil, which became the most dominant oil company of its time, deploying his wealth to transform the nation.
Dangote’s repeated bets on the rise of Africa’s middle class helped him amass a fortune from cement, sugar, salt and other commodities, resulting in a net worth of $28 billion, nearly double that of the second-richest African.
Dangote, 67, expects the $20 billion refinery, which is nearly 10 years overdue and more than double the envisaged cost, to reach full capacity of 650,000 barrels of oil a day by next month.
The refinery is by far the largest in Africa and one of the largest in the world, with the ability to provide about 150 per cent of the fuel consumed by Nigeria’s more than 220 million people. However, it won’t end decades of costly fuel imports because the nation Dangote says he is trying to build won’t sell him enough of the one thing it has lots of: crude oil.
“The mafia in oil and gas is worse than the mafia in drugs,” Dangote said during a rare in-depth interview with The Wall Street Journal in the back seat of an armored black Lexus SUV, weaving through Lagos with a police escort. The motorcade cuts the travel time between his home and the refinery nearly in half on the megacity’s potholed and congested roads.
“If now I am able to do something like these…men that made America: Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller…that’s the kind of thing that I am dreaming of doing, not only in Nigeria. In Africa,” he told WSJ.
He added: “What keeps me happy is working hard,” he said, sporting a navy blue tunic embroidered with the Dangote Group logo, thick black glasses and navy blue Skechers sneakers. “It’s not only about making money. It’s about leaving a legacy by creating jobs and wealth for other people.”
Part of his legacy, he hopes, will be cheaper fuel for ordinary Nigerians. The logic for the refinery was compelling: Nigeria exports almost all of its crude, which is refined abroad and imported back into the country.
The lack of local refining capacity has come at a huge cost to the government, which has spent billions of dollars subsidising fuel for Nigerian consumers and companies, rather than on desperately-needed infrastructure or job creation.
The refinery also represents a shift away from centuries of Africa exporting its most precious resources—including gold, diamonds and people—rather than putting them to work at home.
But Nigeria’s state oil company, NNPC, has said it can deliver just 300,000 barrels of oil a day—less than half of what Dangote needs to feed his massive refinery. NNPC often supplies even less than that amount, Dangote executives say, despite the country’s output of about 1.7 million barrels a day.
The government has forward-sold much of its near-term crude production, and the country gets more than 90 per cent of its foreign exchange from selling oil. The NNPC didn’t return requests for comment, the report stated.
Dangote also faces competition from the Nigerian government, which has spent a huge amount of dollars refurbishing its own refineries, which began to trickle out fuel at the end of last year.
“I am happy that they have started, because at least I will not be called a monopolist, which is very unfair,” Dangote said. Over the past two decades, the government has issued dozens of licenses for refineries.
“I did not stop [other] refineries from being built. I went through hell to build my own,” Dangote said.
Now that it is up and running, the refinery is expected to quintuple revenue at the Dangote Group to $30 billion this year, Dangote said. Still, he isn’t sure he would do it again.
“Building a refinery?” he said, sipping a Nescafé instant cappuccino. “I would think twice,” he added.
THISDAY
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