By Abubakar Yunusa
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says over 17.6 million barrels of crude oil will be delivered to Dangote Petroleum Refinery between September and October.
In an interview on Arise Television on Thursday, Adedapo Segun, executive vice-president, downstream, NNPC, said the move is part of the federal government’s push to drive local production of petroleum products.
Dangote refinery commenced petrol production on Tuesday.
On the same day, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the Dangote refinery is expected to supply 25 million litres of petrol daily in September and will subsequently increase this amount to 30 million litres daily from October.
Two days later, NNPC increased the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, across its retail outlets to N855 per litre.
Prior to the price hike, the country has been experiencing petrol scarcity, with queues resurfacing at petrol stations.
According to Segun, NNPC is doing its best to eradicate queues and ensure the supply of petrol at all stations.
He said one of the measures taken is the supply of 30 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote refinery.
“We’ve provided over 30 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery so far,” he said.
“This month alone, we will be providing 6.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refineries in seven cargoes.
“And in October, we’ll be providing another 11.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refineries in 13 cargoes. So we’re doing everything we can to make sure that this situation abates as soon as possible.”
While speaking on the Port Harcourt refinery, Segun said despite mechanically completing the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery in December 2023, accurate measures still need to be taken to ensure safety.
“I think the process of getting a refinery to production from mechanical completion isn’t one that you can determine accurately. Because it’s a process of multiple iterations,” he said.
“I’ll tell you for a fact that the heaters in Port Harcourt refinery have been fired up. They started working last month. So it takes a process to get it rolling.
“To run refineries is very delicate. It’s not something that if you find a situation that’s going to impact the safe operation of the refinery, go ahead because you’ve given a date. Safety is most important.
“Every individual that works in that refinery has a family. We need to ensure that they go home after work every day. So when we have situations that call for us to have interventions, we will make those interventions because this is the way to go.”
Segun also said the country would not want the refinery to commence and develop a problem.