The Chief Executive Officer of Dangote Refinery, David Bird, has revealed that the facility is receiving significantly less crude oil than agreed under the Federal Government’s crude-for-naira policy.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Wednesday, Bird said the refinery currently receives about five cargoes of crude each month, far below the expected 13 to 15 cargoes.
He explained that the shortfall has limited the refinery’s capacity to maximise the use of locally supplied crude, despite existing agreements.
“What we see under that agreement, we should be getting about 13 to 15 cargoes a month. And that’s what we could process to meet the domestic fuel requirements of Nigeria. Currently, we’re only getting five. So, that’s an underperformance against that pre-agreed volume contract,” he said.
Bird noted that the deficit has forced the refinery to source preferred Nigerian crude grades from the international market at higher prices.
“And that value between the purchase price and the premium that we’re now seeing is money that Nigeria is leaking to the international trading community,” he said.
He further clarified that the crude-for-naira initiative was introduced to stabilise the country’s foreign exchange market, not to provide financial benefits to the refinery, adding that crude is still purchased at global benchmark prices.
“Just to start on the crude for Naira, crude for Naira is not there to benefit Dangote Refinery. That is a fundamental misunderstanding. The crude for Naira programme is to provide resilience to foreign exchange.
“It is the benefit of the country to process domestic crude in the domestic currency,” Bird said.
Despite the supply constraints, he stated that the refinery is operating at its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, serving both local and regional markets.
However, he pointed out that rising global oil market tensions, particularly in the Middle East, have driven up operational costs, including freight, insurance, and logistics.
Bird added that fuel pricing remains linked to international market conditions, emphasising that the refinery does not enjoy subsidies or discounted crude.
He called for better crude allocation and long-term planning, including the development of national reserves, to improve supply stability in Nigeria’s oil sector.