Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), has strongly refuted allegations made by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA), insisting that his company’s diesel is 80% superior to the diesel currently imported into Nigeria.
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During a visit to the company’s facilities on Saturday, Dangote addressed the allegations in the presence of members of the House of Representatives. He emphasized that until late last year, diesel imports into Nigeria contained up to 7,000 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur. In contrast, Dangote’s refinery produces diesel with significantly lower sulphur levels.
“Until late last year, diesel imports into Nigeria were up to 7,000 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur, which has been going on for many years. Our diesel is produced currently at significantly lower levels of sulphur; as such, we find baseless the allegation that the reason for the reduction is linked to quality. What we are producing is 80 percent of what is being imported into the country,” said Anthony Chiejine, the spokesperson for Dangote Industries Limited.
Chiejine also dismissed claims that medium-level sulphur diesel is meant for off-road use, stating, “This is a completely false statement as this would have invariably meant that all the imports for the last 20 years have been damaging equipment.”
Addressing the pricing issue, Chiejine questioned, “Diesel imports for the high sulphur grade have been at significantly higher prices until we started operation. If indeed high sulphur diesel is sold at lower prices, how come we never saw the lower prices until now?”
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To substantiate his claims, Dangote conducted a laboratory test before the House of Representatives delegation, led by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas. The test, carried out using an ED-XRF Spectro Photometer with the ASTM D4294 method, compared diesel samples from Dangote’s refinery with those from two major Nigerian retail outlets, TotalEnergies and Matrix.
The results revealed that TotalEnergies’ diesel had a sulphur concentration of 1,829 ppm, Matrix retail’s diesel had 2,752 ppm, while Dangote Refinery’s diesel showed a significantly lower 87.6 ppm.
“By the end of next week, we should be on 50 ppm and by August, it should be down to 10 ppm,” Dangote stated, noting that the minimum global standard is 50 ppm, while 200 ppm remains acceptable in Africa until the end of the year.
This statement comes in response to allegations made on July 18 by Farouk Ahmed, CEO of NMDPRA, who claimed that Dangote’s refinery and other major refineries like Waltersmith produce diesel with sulphur levels between 650 to 1,200 ppm.
The visit and subsequent tests underscore Dangote’s commitment to providing high-quality petroleum products and challenge the validity of the NMDPRA’s claims.
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