Operators at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry have declared that domestic crude oil supply crisis that recently led to accusations and denials in the oil sector may warrant an investment plunge in the industry.
The operators say the crisis may damage the confidence of International Oil Companies and investors in refineries.
This came as a section of the 650,000-capacity Dangote Petroleum Refinery caught fire on Wednesday, sparking reactions on social media as videos of the incident went viral.
The management of the facility, however, allayed fears about the incident, as it stated that the situation had been put under control, adding that no one was harmed by the fire outbreak.
Earlier, the Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, had accused International Oil Companies in Nigeria of plans to frustrate the survival of the new Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Edwin had said the IOCs were deliberately and willfully frustrating the refinery’s efforts to buy local crude by hiking the cost above the market price, thereby forcing the refinery to import crude from countries as far as the United States, with its attendant high costs.
He said, “This is exploitation – pure and simple. Unfortunately, the country is also playing into their hands by continuing to issue import licences at the expense of our economy and at the cost of the health of the Nigerians who are exposed to carcinogenic products,” the Dangote refinery official had stated.
Edwin had also accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority of granting licences indiscriminately to oil marketers to import dirty refined products into the country.
Recall that the NUPRC recently met with crude oil producers as well as refineries owners in Nigeria, in a bid to ensure full adherence to Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligations as enunciated under section 109(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act.
On his part, the National Vice President of the Nigerian Association of Small-Scale Industrialists, Segun Kuti-George, said the battling with crude oil locally to boost production by Dangote Refineries would dampen investors’ confidence if it lingered.
