By Abubakar Yunusa
Aliko Dangote, founder of the Dangote Group, said the Dangote Petroleum Refinery currently has over 500 million litres of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, available for sale.
Dangote spoke after a meeting on Tuesday with President Bola Tinubu and his committee on crude oil and refined product sales in local currency.
The billionaire said retailers are not collecting the available products to ease petrol queues, which also results in financial losses for the company.
“With enough supply of crude, we can actually produce much more than 30 million litres every day,” Dangote said.
“At full capacity, we can even supply whatever is being consumed.
“But what I estimated as consumption, which I believe may be about 30, 32 million, we can start producing by next week, so it is not really an issue, because, as we speak today, we have 500 million litres in our tanks.
“500 million litres in our tanks even if there’s no protection from any or no imports, this will take the country more than 12 days, with no imports, with no production, nothing.
“We are more than ready.”
Dangote assured Tinubu that the company would supply at least 30 million litres per day and gradually increase production.
The businessman explained that keeping unsold PMS in storage is costly, urging retailers to collect the products to reduce petrol queues and the company’s losses.
“On the streets, one thing that you have to understand is that we are producers. I have a refinery. I’m not in the business of retail. If I’m in the business of retail, then you hold me responsible,” Dangote said.
“But what I’m saying is that the retailers should please come forward and pick. If they don’t come forward and pick, what do you want me to do? There is nothing that I can do.
“I am expecting the NNPC or the marketers to stop importing, they should come and pick because we have what they need.
“I don’t know whether you understand what it takes to keep half a billion litres inside our tank.
“It’s costing me money every day. If I will be able to collect the naira, I can actually charge somebody 32 percent in interest.
“So right now, that’s what I’m losing. And we are talking about 500 million, and we don’t print money.
“The issue is that if they come and collect, then you will not see any queues in the filling stations.
“We have what it takes for them to come and collect. We are not retailers. We also don’t have trucks to send. We have a factory, we have where they can load.”
Dangote urged retailers to collect the PMS available, just as they do with imported products.
He questioned why, if retailers are distributing 55 million litres daily, they would not collect and distribute the company’s stock.
Wale Edun, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy announced the refinery would commence the distribution of PMS, on September 15.
On October 10, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to sell petrol to its members at the Dangote refinery rate or refund the oil marketers’ money.
IPMAN said its members’ money has been with NNPC for over three months.
The association said the national oil company collected PMS from the Dangote refinery below N900 per litre, but NNPC wants oil marketers to buy the same product at the rate of N1,010 in Lagos, N1,045 in Calabar, N1,050 in Port Harcourt, and N1,040 in Warri.
The next day, the federal government said oil marketers can now buy petroleum products directly from the Dangote refinery and other local producers — one week after directing the Dangote refinery to sell petrol to only the NNPC.