NNPC Now sustains 7.2% of the dangote Refinery
At a press conference on earlier these week, Dangote revealed this and added that NNPC’s ownership had fallen to 7.2% as a result of the company’s inability to pay the outstanding share balance that was due in June. For $2.76 billion, the NNPC purchased a 20% stake in the $20 billion Dangote refinery. “NNPC no longer owns a 20 per cent stake in the Dangote refinery.
They were met to pay their balance in June, but have yet to fulfil the obligations. Now, they only own a 7.2% stake in the refinery,” Dangote stated. Late on Sunday, the NNPC released a statement confirming the development. According to a corporate spokesperson, “NNPC Limited periodically assesses its investment portfolio to ensure alignment with the company’s strategic goals.” “
Olufemi Soneye stated, “Several months ago, the decision was made and communicated to Dangote Refinery to cap its equity participation at the paid-up sum.”
Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, is experiencing energy shortages as a result of the closure of all of its state-owned refineries. The majority of the required materials are imported by the state-owned NNPC, and the country mostly depends on imported refined petroleum products.
Everywhere throughout the country, there are often lineups for gasoline. The pain of the residents who use gasoline to power their automobiles and generators has increased due to the decades-long epileptic electricity supply, while the price of fuel has quadrupled since the subsidies ended in May 2023.
At his $20 billion factory in Lagos, one of Africa’s largest entrepreneurs, Dangote, began producing 350,000 barrels per day last December. The refinery plans to reach its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. Diesel and aviation fuel have been supplied by the refinery to the country’s marketers; the distribution of gasoline is slated to begin in August.
Dangote has expressed his displeasure over having to purchase Nigerian oil for his business. According to a Bloomberg article, the refinery located in Lagos purchased around 24 million barrels of crude oil from the United States.
According to reports, the NNPC limited its domestic crude supply by pledging Nigerian petroleum in an oil-for-loan Afreximbank deal for $3.3 billion. In June, Nigeria produced 1.276 million barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), in June, considerably below the 1.7 million bpd target in the 2024 Budget.
Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of state for petroleum resources (oil), had stated in May that the Lagos-based refinery’s choice to import US crude might have been determined by its business plan.
However, Dangote said on Sunday that his refinery will begin producing gasoline in August 2024 after resolving its disagreements with the Federal Government and the NNPC about the supply of crude oil