The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has delivered a total of 48.6 million barrels of crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery over the past ten months.
According to Vanguard, official data on the transactionnof the crude deliveries included 3.4 million barrels in December 2023, followed by 3.5 million barrels in February 2024.
The report further detailed that 3.3 million barrels were delivered in March, 3.3 million barrels in April, 3.0 million barrels in May, 5.1 million barrels in June, another 5.1 million barrels in July, 4.8 million barrels in August, and 5.6 million barrels in September 2024. October alone has already seen 11.7 million barrels delivered.
Despite these substantial deliveries, sources close to the Dangote Refinery expressed concerns that the volumes are still insufficient when compared to the refinery’s full installed capacity of 650,000 barrels per day.
The NNPCL has yet to release the projected crude oil requirements for Nigeria’s refineries, including Dangote’s, for the final quarter of 2024.
However, during the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, the government estimated the total crude oil requirements for all Nigerian refineries, including the Dangote Refinery, at 597,700 barrels per day.
This reflects an increase of 114,700 barrels per day from the 483,000 barrels per day required in the first half of the year.
The Q2 estimate also suggested that NNPCL allocated less than 50% of Dangote Refinery’s installed capacity for crude oil supplies.
In another sector of the petroleum industry, imports of Premium Motor Spirit commonly known as petrol, declined by 12.6% year-on-year, dropping to 20.29 billion litres in 2023, compared to 23.24 billion litres in 2022.
This information was disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its “Petroleum Products Distribution Statistics for 2023,” released yesterday.
The NBS also noted a significant 16.9% decrease in the number of PMS trucks dispatched, falling from 24.35 billion litres in 2022 to 20.22 billion litres in 2023.
Meanwhile, the volume of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), or diesel, imported in 2023 rose to 4.94 billion litres, up from 3.99 billion litres in 2022.
Domestic production of AGO also saw an increase, reaching 109.39 million litres in 2023—a 6.76% rise from the 102.47 million litres produced in 2022.
Additionally, Household Kerosene production jumped by 56%, with 69.7 million litres produced in 2023, compared to 44.68 million litres in 2022.
However, the report indicated that local production of petrol ceased in 2018, the last recorded year when 128.08 million litres were produced.
The NBS data highlighted, “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.”
It added: “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.”
The report also noted a significant rise in the importation of Automotive Gas Oil, stating that “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.”
