The Dangote oil refinery has firmly denied recent allegations that it is reselling cargoes of U.S. and Nigerian crude.
These claims were labeled as “outright falsehood” by the company, which is on the brink of commencing full production.
A report over the weekend suggested that the 650,000 barrels-per-day refinery had offered four different grades of crude for resale due to alleged technical issues. Sources quoted in the report claimed that Nigerian Escravos, Forcados, and U.S. WTI Midland crude were among those being offered.
The news initially contributed to a decline in crude prices, with Brent crude falling as much as 2.5% towards $80 a barrel, though it later recovered to above $81 by the end of trading on Friday.
In a strong rebuttal, Dangote Group dismissed the allegations. Tony Chiejina, an executive with the company, stated, “Our attention has been drawn to a misleading report on our crude distillation unit and claims that we are offering crude for resale. This is outright falsehood as we are not authorized to sell any crude we buy from Nigeria.”
Chiejina assured that the refinery’s Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) is functioning perfectly.
He urged the public to ignore what he described as false narratives promoted by those interested in maintaining the importation of substandard fuels into Nigeria.
The Dangote refinery, which began production in January, is set to become the largest in Africa and Europe once fully operational.
It aims to transform Nigeria’s oil landscape by reducing the country’s reliance on fuel imports, despite being Africa’s largest oil producer.
Such allegations of crude resales by refineries are rare but not unheard of. However, the refinery’s management remains committed to their goal of boosting Nigeria’s fuel self-sufficiency.
The refinery, built at a cost of $20 billion by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has the potential to upend the Europe-to-Africa fuel trade, potentially making Nigeria a net exporter of refined fuels.