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The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has revealed it is exporting 97 percent of its refined products as local oil marketers show minimal interest in purchasing from the facility. Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), made the disclosure during an X space event hosted by Nairametrics, noting that only a small percentage of Nigerian oil marketers are opting for locally refined petroleum products.
Edwin explained, “The conglomerate of all the importers is refusing to buy from us. It is very strange that after putting up the refinery to supply the products locally, I have to export every diesel and jet fuel because they do not want to buy from us.”
He further highlighted that despite offering prices lower than the prevailing market rates, local marketers resisted purchasing from the refinery. Edwin mentioned that the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) even wrote to President Bola Tinubu, complaining that the price cuts negatively impacted their businesses due to their existing large inventories of imported diesel.
“We started selling the diesel, we fixed the price, and it was lower than the prevailing market price. Then, we brought the price further down and they (marketers) wrote to the president complaining,” Edwin stated.
Currently, the refinery sells between 2 to 3 percent of its refined products to small-scale traders, while the remaining 95 to 97 percent is exported. Edwin also warned that the refinery might have to export petrol if the local marketers continue to refuse to buy.
However, he acknowledged ongoing discussions with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), which has expressed interest in working with the refinery. Edwin shared that NNPC has been negotiating the volume of crude it can sell to the refinery and will oversee the processing to ensure transparency. “They are going to have a team of 10 people sitting in the refinery… ensuring that everything is coming into the refinery, and they would watch whether we are producing and processing everything,” he said.
