Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals accused authorities of issuing permits to oil traders to import dirty fuel into the country. Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) Vice President of Oil and Gas, Devakumar Edwin, accused Nigerian International Oil Companies (IOCs) of doing everything in their power to stop Dangote Refinery from surviving.
Ukoha (NMDPRA) told reporters in Abuja that the sulphur content of fuel did not exceed the legal limit even in June. “No dirty fuel will be imported. I have given you the statistics for June. Our average imports have continued to fall from an average of 200 parts per million (PPM) and are now well below the 50 PPM permitted by law.” He recalled that in 2020, ECOWAS heads of state signed a declaration adopting the African Fuels Roadmap, which mandates that certain products have a sulphur content of at least 50 ppm (parts per million).
The Secretary-General explained that the agreement provides for the almost immediate enforcement of this standard for imports, but enforcement for local refineries is delayed until December 31, 2024.
He said that the deadline for enforcement for local refineries has not yet passed, but the plants are complying with the standard voluntarily. “And the refineries do not have to enforce this until the end of this year. But they themselves have already taken steps to ensure this,” he said.
Ukoha noted that Section 318 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021 also incorporates and upholds the ECOWAS Treaty. “So what have we done as an agency since inception? We started with ensuring compliance. From 2022 to December 2023, we saw a declining trend,” he added.
Recall; Earlier on Monday, Journalists reported that Dangote Industries Limited Vice President of Oil and Gas, Devakumar Edwin, said indiscriminate licensing of traders by NMDPRA was encouraging the importation of “dirty” diesel and jet fuel into the country.
According to Edwin, despite Dangote’s efforts to meet ECOWAS standards, authorities are issuing licenses to traders to import high sulphur petrol from Russia. He explained that the US and the UK have imposed caps on Russian petroleum products which are now being dumped into the Nigerian market by various traders. “Despite the fact that we manufacture and sell diesel in accordance with ECOWAS regulations and standards, a ton of licenses are being issued to traders to buy diesel with very high sulphur content from Russia and sell it in the Nigerian market,” Edwin said.
