BREAKING : Dangote alleges crude oil price manipulation, says firms sabotaging refinery

The Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Devakumar Edwin, has raised serious allegations against International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria.

He claims these companies are actively working to sabotage the operations of the Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals.

During a one-day training event for Energy Editors organised by the Dangote Group, Edwin disclosed that the IOCs are inflating premium prices for local crude oil, making it difficult for the refinery to purchase crude at reasonable rates.

As a result, the refinery is forced to source crude from distant countries such as the United States, significantly driving up costs.

“Despite the efforts of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to allocate crude for us, the IOCs are willfully obstructing our attempts to acquire local crude,” Edwin stated. “It appears their aim is to see our refinery fail.”

Edwin highlighted that the NUPRC recently convened a meeting with crude oil producers and refinery owners in Nigeria to ensure compliance with the Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligations (DCSO) as outlined in section 109(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). However, he noted that IOCs are either demanding exorbitant premiums or claiming that crude is unavailable.

“At one point, we had to pay $6 above the market price,” Edwin revealed. “This situation has compelled us to scale back our output and import crude from as far away as the US, which has substantially increased our production costs.”

More details to follow….