Storage tanks at Marathon Petroleum's Los Angeles Refinery in Carson, California
IBTimes NG

The Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced that it would export its petrol if it was not bought by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and other local dealers.

The announcement was made on Monday by Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited Devakumar Edwin during an appearance on the Brekete Family live show.

"There has been a kind of a blockade from lifting our products within the country. The traders have been trying to block (it), and so now we have been exporting our petroleum products. PMS, we are ready to pump in as much as possible to the country," he said, Punch reported.

"But if the traders or NNPC are not buying the product, obviously, we will end up exporting the PMS as we are doing with the aviation jet and diesel," he added.

Edwin confirmed that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun producing petrol, also known as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), as of Sunday. He mentioned that the refinery has already been exporting aviation fuel, producing kerosene, and making diesel.

With the start of petrol production, the only thing left to produce is petrochemicals. Edwin said this development was good news for the country, and went on to express astonishment over the unexpected challenges the Dangote Petroleum Refinery faced, as it began operations.

He noted that the original goal was to add value to Nigeria's raw materials by refining crude oil domestically, rather than exporting it and importing refined products. However, after more than thirty years, Nigeria was still exporting crude oil and importing refined products.

Edwin explained that the refinery has struggled with crude oil supply issues and now has to import crude from places like the U.S. and Brazil. He regretted that the original plan had not worked out as planned with Nigeria continuing to export crude and import refined products.

The $20 billion Dangote Refinery, located on the outskirts of Lagos and built by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, started operations in January. It produces various products such as naphtha and jet fuel.

With a daily capacity of 650,000 barrels, the refinery is the largest in Africa and aims to reduce Nigeria's expensive dependence on imported oil products.