The House of Representatives leaders visited the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum refinery in Lagos State. Around eleven a.m. on Saturday, 20 July 2024, the legislators arrived at the refinery in the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, where Aliko Dangote, the President of the Dangote Group, and other top business executives of the company welcomed them.

The lawmakers are expected to discuss the strategy to begin the gasoline supply next month and take a tour of the refinery, which produces 650,000 barrels of oil per day, during their visit. This visit signifies the second time this year that Federal Lawmakers will visit the refinery, after the Senate leadership, led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, visited the refinery in June 2024.

The legislator’s visit occurred a few days after Farouk Ahmed, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority CEO, asserted that the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery has a high sulphur content, approximately 1,000 parts per million.

In addition, Ahmed said that the Federal Government would not halt the importation of petroleum products because Nigeria cannot rely solely on one refinery to supply its food needs. He disclosed that the refinery, which has been selling aviation fuel and diesel in Nigeria for months, does not currently have a license because it is still in the pre-commissioning phase.

It is untrue what some media outlets say about the actions taken to shut down the Dangote refinery. Pre-commissioning work is still ongoing at the Dangote refinery. It is not yet licensed, just as we have not granted them a license. They have not yet finished pre-commissioning. “I believe they are about 45% done,” he said.

The head of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) issued a warning, saying Nigeria cannot rely solely on the Dangote refinery to supply its fuel. He claimed that to become Nigeria’s sole fuel supplier, the refinery had asked the regulator to stop granting import licenses to other marketers.

Dangote is asking that we ban or cease the importation of all petroleum products, particularly AGO, and divert all marketers to the refinery; that is not good for the country in terms of energy security therefore, “we cannot rely solely on one refinery to feed the country, because monopoly is bad for the market,” he emphasized.

Speaking about quality, he stated, “AGO currently has the lowest sulphur content with the 50 ppm standard for West Africa.” The Dangote refinery and certain modular refineries, such as the Aradel and Waltersmith refineries, produce 650 to 1,200ppm. He claimed that as a result, their product is much lower in quality than that of imports.

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