BREAKING: Parliamentary Leadership Visits Dangote Refinery

The leadership of the House of Representatives, led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, visited the $20 billion Dangote Petroleum refinery in Lagos State.

The lawmakers arrived at the refinery, located in the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, around 11 am on Saturday. They were received by Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, along with top executives of the company.

During the visit, the lawmakers are expected to tour the 650,000 barrels per day refinery and discuss plans to commence the supply of petrol next month. This visit marks the second by federal lawmakers this year, following a visit by Senate leadership, led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in June.

This visit comes shortly after Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (NMDPRA), raised concerns about the high sulphur content (about 1,000 parts per million) in the diesel produced by the Dangote refinery. Ahmed also noted that the Federal Government would continue importing petroleum products, as Nigeria cannot rely solely on one refinery for its fuel supply.

Ahmed revealed that the Dangote refinery, which has been selling diesel and aviation fuel in Nigeria for months, is still in the pre-commissioning stage and has not yet been licensed. He emphasized that the refinery is about 45 percent complete.

Ahmed warned against over-reliance on the Dangote refinery for national fuel supply, highlighting that the refinery had requested the regulator to stop issuing import licenses to other marketers, aiming to become the sole fuel supplier in Nigeria. He argued that such a monopoly would not be beneficial for the nation’s energy security or market competition.

Regarding product quality, Ahmed pointed out that the diesel produced by Dangote and other modular refineries, such as Waltersmith and Aradel, has a higher sulphur content (650 to 1,200 ppm) compared to the West African standard of 50 ppm, making it inferior to imported diesel.