- Questions Raised Over Sudden Importation Of $2bn Petroleum Products From Malta
- Jitters In Europe As 90 Refineries Risk Closure Due To Dangote Refinery
The ongoing face-off between Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant and Regulatory Agencies in the Nigerian oil and gas sector keeps throwing up fresh drama each day.
In the latest twist, the Senate has disclosed that there are plans to summon the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Dangote Group, and Minister of State for Petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri among others, for questioning over alleged economic sabotage in the country’s petroleum industry.
This development was announced by the Leader of the Senate and Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc committee on “Alleged Economic Sabotage in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry” Senator Opeyemi Bamidele at a media briefing on Thursday.
The chairman disclosed that the 14-member committee constituted on July 23 would investigate billions of dollars spent on turnaround maintenance of the state-owned refineries in the last decade to address deep-seated challenges confronting the industry.
A public hearing scheduled for September 10 is expected to have the contractors handling the turnaround maintenance for the refineries in attendance as the ad-hoc committee prepares to visit Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Warri to engage with key actors in the petroleum industry.
In their separate remarks, members of the committee vowed to unravel the rot in the sector, declaring that it will no longer be business as usual. The committee says there would be no room for sacred cows and it is ready to issue a warrant of arrest to any head of the agency that refuses to honour the invitation for appearance.
READ ALSO: Monopoly, Poor Petroleum Products Standards: Dangote Goes After NNPCL
Meanwhile, huge questions are being raised over the sudden surge in the volume and value of petroleum products import from Malta.
It was gathered that the value of petroleum products imported from the tiny island rose from zero since 2017-2022 to a whopping $2bn in 2023 alone.
This becomes significant after The owner of Dangote Refinery Alhaji Aliko Dangote accused top officials of NNPCL of having a blending plant in the country.
According to data from Trademap, a database on international trade statistics, between 2017 and 2022, there were no imports of the commodity from Malta — an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea.
However, the value of imported petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals was $13.32 million in 2016.
This represents a 20,921 percent increase compared to the amount ($2.8 billion) recorded in 2023, according to TheCable Index analysis.
Further checks showed that the importation of petroleum products from Malta gulped $47.5 million in 2013. The amount increased to $59.98 million and $117.01 million in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Similar import figures were also shared on social media by StatiSense, a data company.
This begs the question that could Dangote have been right in his accusations, the NNPCL has since denied the accusations.
In a related development, report has emerged that there are jitters in Europe as no fewer than 90 refineries risk closure due to Dangote Refinery.
Traders and shipping data showed that Nigeria’s new Dangote refinery is ramping up gasoil exports to West Africa, capturing market share from European refiners.
“As much as 300-400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity in Europe is at risk of closure because of rising global gasoline production,” Andon Pavlov, an analyst at Kpler, a global trade intelligence platform, said in a note.
READ ALSO: Buhari’s Ex-Minister Hinges End Of Fuel Subsidy On Dangote Refinery’s Success
Kpler’s data revealed that European Union and UK gasoil exports to West Africa fell to a four-year low of 29,000 bpd in May, while Russian exports to the region dropped to an eight-month low of 87,000 bpd in the same month.
Some analysts have raised alarm that European refineries’ loss of market share to Lagos-based Dangote Refinery will be problematic for them.
“The loss of the West African market will be problematic for a small set of refineries that do not have the kit to upgrade their gasoline to European and U.S. specification,” Eugene Lindell, head of refined products at FGE, a global energy consultancy said, referring to more stringent environmental standards for other markets.
Around 30 European refineries have shut down since 2009, data from refining industry body Concawe showed. And many more – up to 90- could go with Dangote Refinery, the analysts disclosed.
