After The Hype, Dangote $20bn Refinery Fails To Meet Production Deadline

After the commissioning hype and fanfare at the twilight of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, the $20 billion Dangote Refinery has failed to meet the promised August date for the commencement of production.

This was as a source close to the multi-billion dollars refinery said that the management was not sure of when petrol refining would commence at the refinery situated at the Ibeju-Lekki, adding that the commissioning was to meet some political arrangement but certainly not the actual completion of the gigantic project for which the management of the facility is yet to come up with a date for the commencement of production.

Former President Buhari had while commissioning what later turned out to be an uncompleted refinery, said the first product will be in the market before the end of July or beginning of August this year.

However, as at the end of the first week of September, there was no single drop of refined petroleum product from the estimated 650,000 barrels per day refinery after weeks of the promised production deadline.

Similarly, the spokesperson for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Garbadeen Muhammad had said in June this year that the company would cut down its fuel imports programme in August, once the Dangote Refinery began to pump refined petroleum products latest August.

Speaking along the same line of thought, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Agency, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, told journalists in June shortly after meeting with oil marketers in Abuja that the NNPCL had cut down on petroleum products importation.

Taking a cursory look at the situation arising from the inability of the Dangote Refinery to come up with a date of commencing production, the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Comrade Festus Osifo, tasked the Federal Government to focus on completing the Port Harcourt refinery as against dependence on Dangote refinery.

Osifo further said; “Dangote is a private businessman and can decide tomorrow that he would not refine again, although the government has a 20 per cent stake in the refinery. We should rather focus on making other refineries work because it would cut down on freight rates from importation, and would reduce prices. We should ask the government the question such as, when is the Port Harcourt refinery going to start refining petrol?”

Speaking on the development, the National Controller of Operations of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, said there was no cause for alarm with regards to the supply of petrol, saying that the NNPCL was still importing petroleum products.

He equally stressed the need for the Federal Government to ensure that the nation’s four refineries come on stream as against laying hope on Dangote Refinery whose management may have delayed production owing to some internal challenges.

Efforts to get the Public Communications officers of Dangote Refinery to speak on the matter proved abortive.