THIS DAY
As Dangote Refinery fights back allegations by Nigerian Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that its refined products are inferior to imported ones, a letter seen by THISDAY has shown that the regulatory authority approved the firm’s in-house laboratory for the testing of crude oil products.
The official communication dated March 28, 2024 and addressed to Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals, Lekki, said the laboratory had satisfied the minimum requirement for accreditation.
The matter is coming to the fore after a public altercation between the managers of the facility and NMDPRA as to the quality of products churned out from the $19 billion refinery.
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had Saturday said products refined at the facility, the world’s largest single train refinery, were of superior quality compared to imported equivalents and met international standards.
Dangote insisted on testing other diesel products, alongside Dangote’s diesel at the refinery’s state-of-the-art laboratory.
Earlier, the diesel samples procured from two well-known filling stations near Eleko junction, along the Lekki Epe Expressway, overseen by some visiting lawmakers, revealed that Dangote’s diesel had a sulphur content of 87.6 ppm, whereas the other two samples showed sulphur levels exceeding 1800 ppm and 2,000 ppm, respectively.
Dangote emphasised that the findings debunked claims made by Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, who recently asserted that imported diesel surpassed domestically refined products.
Ahmed had alleged that Dangote refinery and other modular refineries, like Waltersmith and Aradel, produced diesel with sulphur content ranging from 650 to 1200 ppm, a statement criticised by many Nigerians as a tactic to favour imported products over local ones.
But the letter signed by Executive Director, Heath, Safety Environmental & Community, NMDPRA, Mustapha Lamorde, on behalf of Ahmed, stated that the accreditation covered analyses of crude oil, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), naphtha, gasoline, HHK/ATF, and AGO or diesel only handled/produced in the refinery.
