Dangote’s Exit from Fuel Imports in June Spurs Marketers to Seek Bulk Supply
The Dangote oil refinery is set to put an end to the monthly importation of an average of 1 billion litres of premium motor spirit in Nigeria.
This was as the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, revealed that Nigeria would end petrol imports the moment the refinery started selling the product in June.
Recall it was reported that the country’s monthly petrol import was reduced by about 1 billion litres after President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidies in June, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The NBS report indicated that the country received fuel importation of 2.09 litres in January 2023, while 1.99 billion litres was imported in February of the same year. It was 2.29 billion litres in March; 1.91 billion litres in April and 2.01 billion litres in May last year.
However, our correspondent observed that the quantity of PMS imported in June, the first post-subsidy month, dropped to 1.64 billion litres.
The downward slope got deeper in July when the import was reduced to 1.45 billion litres.
Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda on Friday, Dangote expressed optimism about transforming Africa’s energy landscape.
According to him, following the laid-down plans of the Dangote refinery, Nigeria will no longer need to import petrol starting next month.
Dangote also stated that his refinery can meet West Africa’s petrol and diesel needs, as well as the continent’s aviation fuel demand.
He said, “ Right now, Nigeria has no cause to import anything apart from gasoline and by sometime in June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a litre,” he declared.
He added, “We have enough gasoline to give to at least the entire West Africa, diesel to give to West Africa and Central Africa. We have enough aviation fuel to give to the entire continent and also export some to Brazil and Mexico.
