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October 2, 2024

NNPCL allocates 48.6m barrels of crude to Dangote Refinery

'NNPC wants office space for its staff at Dangote Refinery'

…as petrol import falls 12% to 20.29bn litres

By Udeme Akpan, Energy Editor, Ediri Ejoh & Elizabeth Adegbesan

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has allocated a total of 48.6 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote Petroleum Refinery in the past 10 months, Vanguard investigations have revealed.

Details of the deliveries contained in official data on the transaction sighted by Vanguard showed that 3.4 million barrels (mb) were supplied in December 2023 while 3.5 million barrels were supplied in February 2024.

The details further showed that 3.3md, 3.3mb, 3.0mb, 5.1mb, 5.1mb, 4.8mb and 5.6 were supplied to the refinery in March, April, May, June, July, August and September 2024 respectively. The transaction has already recorded 11.7mb for October 2024 deliveries.

However, sources close to the Dangote Refinery said the volume supplied remains low when compared to the installed refining capacity of the 650,000 barrels per day plant.

The NNPCL has not yet disclosed the crude oil requirements of Nigeria’s refineries, including Dangote refinery in the last quarter (October – December) of 2024.

But in the second quarter (Q2’24) of 2024, the government put the requirements of all Nigeria’s refineries, including Dangote Refinery, at 597,700 barrels per day, indicating an increase of 114.700 barrels per day, from 483,000 bpd in the first half of the year.

The Q2’24 estimate also indicates that the NNPCL may have booked the crude oil needs of Dangote Refinery at less than 50% of the installed production capacity.

Petrol imports fall 12%

Meanwhile, the volume of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also called petrol fell year-on-year (YoY) by 12.6 percent to 20.29 billion litres in 2023 from 23.24 billion litres in 2022.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this yesterday in its ”Petroleum Products Distribution Statistics for 2023”, noting that PMS trucks also dropped by 16.9 percent YoY to 20.22 billion litres from 24.35 billion litres in 2022.

According to the bureau, the volume of Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, also known as diesel, imported rose to 4.94 billion litres in 2023 from 3.99 billion litres in 2022.

The statistics also showed that 109.39 million litres of AGO were locally produced in 2023, representing a 6.76 per cent rise from 102.47 million litres produced in 2022.

Similarly, the volume of Household Kerosene (HHK) locally produced grew by 56 per cent YoY to 69.7 million litres in 2023 from 44.68 million litres in 2024.

However, the data showed that local production of Petrol ended in 2018 when 128.08 million litres was produced.

NBS said: “In 2023, PMS truck out stood at 20.22 billion litres, indicating a 16.96% decrease relative to 24.35 billion litres recorded in 2022.

“About 69.71 million litres of HHK were locally produced in 2023 compared to 44.68 million litres in 2022, indicating a growth rate of 56.02 percent over the period.

“For AGO, 109.39 million litres were locally produced in 2023, higher, compared to 102.47 million litres reported in 2022. This represents a 6.76 percent growth rate.

“In terms of imported products, 20.30 billion litres of PMS were imported in 2023 relative to 23.54 billion litres in 2022, showing a decrease of 13.77 percent

”Also, 4.94 billion litres of Automotive Gas Oil were imported in 2023, indicating an increase of 23.66 percent compared to 4.00 billion litres in the previous year.”