The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Melee Kolo Kyari has disclosed that a huge chunk of the petroleum the NNPC pays for is being smuggled to neighbouring countries where they are sold at higher prices.
“According to him, “Petroleum consumption in Nigeria is not up to 60 million litres per day, but we supply up to that,”
“We always plan with 60 million litres, because anytime we do below that, there is a crisis.”
He spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, while also disclosing that the NNPC planned to borrow to pay for its stake to buy a 20 percent of the shares of the $11 billion Dangote refinery.
He acknowledged that there “are sharp practices which we are trying to control” and “an organised cross-border smuggling of petroleum, which is associated with the price of petroleum itself.”
The smuggling, he noted, is exacerbated by the fact that Nigeria shares borders with countries who have no choice but to transport petroleum by road.
When borders were shut last year, the NNPC chief said, consumption fell to 52 to 53 million litres per day. And during the thick of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the number fell to about 42 million litres.
“If everything works well and consumption is limited to our country, we are dealing with about 42 million litres,” Mr Kyari said
“For the Dangote refinery, we are not taking government money to buy it, which is the mistake that people are making,” he said.
“We are borrowing on the back of the cash-flow of this business.
“We know that this business is viable, it will work and it will return dividends. It has a cash-flow that is sustainable because refinery business, in the short term, will continue to be sustainable.
“That’s why banks have come forward to lend to us, so we can take equity in this.”
“Dangote refinery will come into production by 2022. And what that will do is to deliver over 50 million litres of gasoline into, to be specific, our markets.
“We are also working on our refineries, to ensure that we fix them. We have awarded the contract for Port Harcourt refinery rehabilitation.
“And ultimately we are going to close that of Warri and Kaduna very soon in July, so that all of them will work contemporaneously. The net effect is that you are going to have an environment where Nigeria becomes the hub of petroleum products and supply.
“It’s going to change the dynamics of petroleum supply globally in the sense that the flow is coming from Europe today and it is going to be reversed to some other direction.
“We will be the supplier for West Africa legitimately and also many other parts of the world.
“So the meaning of this is, there is an opportunity that has been thrown at us. And I’m not sure Mr Dangote wants to sell his equity in the refinery. I can confirm that it was at our instance that we started this engagement. He did not want to sell his shares in this refinery.
“And for us, as a strategy, we started this process long before Dangote started his refinery project. We take equity in very significant businesses that are anchored on the oil and gas operations: fertiliser, methanol plants, modular refineries and some other businesses that we are dealing with.
“It is to expand our portfolio and also because we are the national oil company, we have the responsibility to guarantee energy security for our country. And there is no way you can have a say, except you have a seat on the board of these institutions. And that’s why anyone that is going to construct a refinery that is in the excess of 50,000 barrels per day, we will talk to them, take equity in it, as long as we have the money to pay for it.
“For the Dangote refinery, we are not taking government money to buy it, which is the mistake that people are making. We are borrowing on the back of the cash-flow of this business.
“We know that this business is viable, it will work and it will return dividends. It has a cash-flow that is sustainable because refinery business, in the short term, will continue to be sustainable. That’s why banks have come forward to lend to us, so we can take equity in this.
“We are very proud that we did this. This is good for our shareholders, which includes all 200 Nigerians who will also be happily buying shares from this company if they had the opportunity. But now we have done on their behalf, so that ultimately the value will come to all of us.
