Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has said that over 17.6 million barrels of crude oil will be delivered to Dangote Refinery between September and October.
Gatekeepers News reports that executive vice-president, downstream of NNPC, Adedapo Degun said this during an interview session on Arise Television on Thursday.
Segun said the move is part of federal government’s push to drive local production of petroleum products.
He said the NNPC plans to supply 17.6 million barrels which equals an average daily supply of 288,524 barrels, approximately 44 percent of the refinery’s total capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
Recall that two days ago, NNPC increased price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, across its retail outlets to N855, N897 per litre (depending on the location).
Segun however noted that NNPC is doing its best to eradicate queues and ensure the supply of petrol at all stations, adding that one of the measures taken is the supply of 30 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote refinery.
He said, “We’ve provided over 30 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery so far.”
“This month alone, we will be providing 6.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refineries in seven cargoes.”
“And in October, we’ll be providing another 11.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refineries in 13 cargoes. So we’re doing everything we can to make sure that this situation abates as soon as possible.”
Speaking on Port Harcourt refinery, Segun said despite mechanically completing the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery in December 2023, accurate measures still need to be taken to ensure safety.
He said, “I think the process of getting a refinery to production from mechanical completion isn’t one that you can determine accurately. Because it’s a process of multiple iterations.”
“I’ll tell you for a fact that the heaters in Port Harcourt refinery have been fired up. They started working last month. So it takes a process to get it rolling.”
“To run refineries is very delicate. It’s not something that if you find a situation that’s going to impact the safe operation of the refinery, go ahead because you’ve given a date. Safety is most important.”
“Every individual that labors in that refinery has a family. We need to ensure that they go home after work every day. So when we have situations that call for us to have interventions, we will make those interventions because this is the way to go.”
Segun said the country would not want the refinery to commence and develop a problem.
