JUST IN: Dangote refinery caught fire amid altercation with IOCs
A section of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in the Lekki Free Zone near Lagos, the Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre has reportedly caught fire.
The facility was seen in a video posted today June 26, 2024 by an X user @ZagaOlaMakama, going up on flame.
This is coming amid serious altercation between Dangote Industries Limited and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria over allegation that the IOCs is sabotaging the Dangote Oil and Petrochemical Refinery.
Just recently, Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) Vice President Oil and Gas, Devakumar Edwin, accused International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria of sabotaging the Dangote Oil and Petrochemical Refinery.
Edwin said the IOCs are intentionally obstructing the refinery’s efforts to purchase local crude.
He alleged that companies do so by inflating premium prices above market rates, forcing the refinery to import crude from distant countries, resulting in significantly higher costs.
Edwin made the disclosure while speaking to a group of energy editors at a one-day training program organized by Dangote Group.
He said: “While the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is doing its best to allocate crude oil to us, the IOCs are deliberately and intentionally frustrating our efforts to purchase local crude oil.
“It may be recalled that the NUPRC recently met with crude oil producers and refinery owners in Nigeria, in a bid to ensure full compliance with the Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligations (DCSO), as enunciated in section 109 (2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). It seems that the goal of the IOCs is to make our Oil Refinery fail.
“Either they are deliberately asking for a ridiculous/huge premium or they are simply claiming that crude oil is not available. At some point we paid $6 above the market price.
“This has forced us to reduce our production, as well as import crude oil from countries as far away as the United States, increasing our production cost.”
This occurs just a few days after Aliko Dangote, the founder, chairman, and CEO of the Dangote Group, claimed that local and international mafia attempted multiple times to thwart the construction of his $19 billion refinery.
During the African Trade and Investment Forum and Afreximbank (AAN) annual meetings in Nassau, Bahamas, Dangote stated that a number of organizations had gone to considerable measures to undermine the facility, which could produce 650,000 barrels of oil per day.
Dangote stated that although he knew opposition would always exist, he had not expected it to be this severe.
“Well, I knew there would be a fight. But he didn’t know that the oil mafia is stronger than the drug mafia. I can tell you that. Yes, it is a fact. The local and foreign mafia tried several times to sabotage the refinery so that it would not come to fruition,” he said.
