Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery counters fuel shortage claims

Nigeria’s Dangote Oil Refinery holds a 500-million-litre petrol stockpile, its founder Aliko Dangote revealed on Tuesday, countering claims that imports are needed to meet demand.

The statement follows his meeting in Abuja with President Bola Tinubu, oil regulators, the NNPC, and the finance minister, aimed at reviewing a policy requiring the NNPC to sell crude to the refinery in naira to ease foreign exchange pressure.

Dangote clarified that his refinery, which began operations in September, is not responsible for retail fuel shortages and urged local marketers to collect available stock instead of importing. Initially producing 25 million litres per day, Dangote aims to scale up to 35 million litres, while the sector regulator estimates local demand at 45–50 million litres daily.

To support domestic supply, President Tinubu instructed stakeholders to rely on Afreximbank for naira settlements and affirmed the policy’s continuation. The government’s goal is to phase out fuel imports as the refinery reaches full capacity.

Attribution: Reuters

Subediting: Y.Yasser