Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority of granting licences indiscriminately to marketers to import dirty refined products into the country.
In a subtle reaction to a statement credited to a senior staff of Dangote, the Nigerian government has declared that there was no importation of dirty fuel into Nigeria.
It would be recalled that the Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority of granting licences indiscriminately to marketers to import dirty refined products into the country.
However, after meeting with oil marketers and local refiners of crude oil in Abuja, the agency denied such occurrences .
At the meeting, the parties discussed issues about refined products’ pricing, issues of competition and the importation of products that are produced in Nigeria.
The oil marketers also stated that though local refineries were producing some of the refined products, this would not stop them from patronising other sources, while also buying products from the indigenous producers.
Reacting to claims of importing dirty fuel, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, also stated that refined petroleum products with high-sulphur contents were last imported in February, stressing that this had since been addressed by the regulator.
The Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha, said this while speaking to journalists after the regulator concluded its meeting with the oil marketers and local crude oil refiners, which also had present officials from Dangote refinery and modular refineries.
“There is no dirty fuel that is being brought into Nigeria,” Ukoha declared when asked to react to the allegations levelled against the NMDPRA by a senior official of the Dangote refinery.
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