By Damola Emmanuel
Nigeria’s energy sector records a historic milestone today, Sunday, September 15, 2024, as the largest refinery in Africa, Dangote Refinery, begins the distribution of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.
The milestone is in tandem with the announcement, last Friday, by the Federal Government, through the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, that the largest single-train refinery in the world will begin to distribute petrol today.
The giant leap is also coming after initial setbacks and deadly intrigues by some strategic stakeholders who many industry watchers believe were deliberately orchestrating confusion in order to frustrate the gigantic project.
It is also a significant landmark for the $20 billion-Dangote Refinery, located in the Lekki area of Lagos, which began operations in January with output of products including naphtha and jet fuel, as the development will position it on the right side of history.
Nigerians have been rejoicing since Edun broke the news on Friday, believing that the refinery, when fully operational, will break the backbone of the cartel that has given Nigeria’s energy sector a chokehold through unwholesome practices that had made petrol scarce and unaffordable.
Nigerians believe that the milestone by the Dangote Refinery would help stop the ongoing petrol scarcity that has gripped the nation, thus offering Nigerians a huge relief.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, shares in that optimism as he declared at a press briefing, last Wednesday, that the “refinery will fuel growth, development, and prosperity by supplying energy to our people.”
Edun, who was represented by the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Mr. Zacch Adedeji, told journalists at the Abuja briefing that all agreements had been completed for the loading of the first batch of petrol.
But the Minister stated categorically that Dangote Refinery will not sell directly to marketers at this stage. Rather, it will sell solely to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, which will, in turn, sell to the marketers.
“Diesel will be sold in naira by the Dangote refinery to any interested off-taker. PMS will only be sold to NNPC, NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now,” he said
And effective October 1, 2024, the NNPCL would be selling about 385,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd) to the refinery. And it will be paid for in naira in obedience to President Bola Tinubu’s directive.
“From October 1, NNPC Ltd. will commence the supply of about 385,000 bpd of crude oil to the Dangote refinery, to be paid for in naira,” Edun said.
“In return, the Dangote refinery will supply PMS and diesel of equivalent value to the domestic market, to be paid in naira.”
Similarly, the Minister emphasized that all associated regulatory costs pertaining to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and others, would also be paid for in naira.
“We are also setting up a one-stop shop that will coordinate service provision from all regulatory, and security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of this initiative.,” Edun said, adding that “This will be located in Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Lagos.”
“The technical committee that worked to flesh out this initiative will transition to an implementation execution and monitoring committee that will be working out of Lagos for the next three to six months.”