Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has raised concerns over the continued use of International Oil Companies and other intermediaries to supply Nigerian crude to domestic refineries, saying the arrangement increases procurement costs.
The refinery made the clarification following recent data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission indicating that about 15.5 million barrels of crude offered to Dangote Refinery in the second quarter of 2026 were not taken up.
According to the company’s Group Vice President, Oil & Gas and Fertiliser, Devakumar Edwin, the refinery remains willing to purchase locally produced crude under the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation framework. However, he said the crude must be available in adequate quantities and at prices that are commercially sustainable.
Edwin explained that obtaining crude through IOCs and third-party traders had become necessary because of difficulties in securing supplies directly from Nigerian producers.
He said the involvement of intermediaries frequently adds premiums and transaction charges to the cost of crude, sometimes pushing the price above international market benchmarks.
The refinery argued that such pricing makes Nigerian crude less attractive compared with supplies available from other international markets.
Edwin stressed that the refinery’s position was not about rejecting crude volumes allocated on paper, but about whether the barrels could actually be purchased at viable market prices.
He said competitive crude pricing was essential to keeping domestic refining operations sustainable and ensuring that petroleum products could be supplied to Nigerian consumers at competitive prices.
The Dangote executive further warned that higher acquisition costs ultimately affect the price of refined products because expensive crude raises the overall cost of production.
The refinery’s statement comes amid data showing that local crude deliveries to Nigerian refineries increased significantly in the second quarter, reaching 53.7 million barrels during the period.
Dangote Refinery has previously raised concerns over the difficulties involved in accessing domestic crude, alleging that some IOCs and government agencies were frustrating efforts to secure supplies for local refining.
