Dangote accuses petrol importers of fresh sabotage

Dangote Petroleum Refinery has accused “unpatriotic and unscrupulous individuals” of orchestrating a sophisticated misinformation campaign designed to undermine the $20 billion facility and preserve the country’s dependency on fuel imports, a trade that has enriched a select group of middlemen for decades.

The allegations, made public on Tuesday following newspaper advertisements that misrepresented the refinery’s operations, have exposed the deep-seated resistance to Nigeria’s notoriously opaque petroleum import business. The dispute centres on claims, allegedly amplified through S&P Global reports, that Dangote imports finished petrol into Nigeria, an assertion the company categorically denies.

“This propaganda is being promoted by unpatriotic and unscrupulous individuals who cannot afford to see Nigeria stop imports,” Dangote Refinery stated, adding that it has identified those responsible and would reveal their identities “at the appropriate time.” The company went further, alleging that those behind the campaign had previously “helped to milk the NNPC refineries through fraudulent financing transactions for refinery repairs, which ended up being squandered.”

Read also: Dangote refinery says it has identified individuals claiming it imports petrol, threatens legal action

The accusation strikes at the heart of Nigeria’s troubled petroleum sector, where successive governments have spent billions of dollars on state-owned refinery rehabilitation projects that consistently failed to restore production capacity.

These perpetual “turnaround maintenance” programmes became synonymous with corruption, creating lucrative opportunities for contractors while Nigeria paradoxically imported virtually all its refined products despite being Africa’s largest crude producer.

Dangote Refinery acknowledges importing feedstocks and blending components, including high-sulphur reformates, low-RON condensates, and high-sulphur cracked gasoline, but insists these intermediate streams require further processing before meeting regulatory specifications for finished petrol.

“These materials must undergo further processing before they meet regulated market specifications,” the company explained, describing the practice as standard among advanced refining hubs in Europe and Asia, where facilities routinely optimise crude slates and blending strategies to enhance operational flexibility and margins.

However, critics have seized upon these imports, characterising them as finished fuel and thereby suggesting Dangote is merely repackaging imported petrol rather than genuinely refining crude oil—a narrative the company describes as “inaccurate and deceptive” and designed to “distort public understanding and undermine confidence in Nigeria’s domestic refining progress.”

The battle reflects broader tensions surrounding the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility, which represents Africa’s largest single-train refinery and potentially threatens established business models built around petroleum product imports.

For years, a complex web of traders, financiers, and politically connected individuals profited from Nigeria’s refinery dysfunction, securing lucrative contracts to supply imported fuel to a country sitting atop vast oil reserves.

Industry analysts suggest the stakes are considerable.

Nigeria historically spent billions of dollars annually importing refined petroleum products, creating opportunities for arbitrage, letters of credit financing, and various intermediary arrangements that enriched participants while burdening the national economy. Dangote’s operational refinery threatens to eliminate much of this trade, redirecting value from importers to domestic production.

Following clarification at an S&P Global forum in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, the gathering reportedly acknowledged the refinery’s “pivotal role in reshaping the global refining landscape.” The company emphasised that it supplies only Euro 5-compliant petrol to the Nigerian market, fuel that undergoes “rigorous quality checks to ensure Nigerians receive fuel that ranks among the highest quality available globally.”

Read also: Dangote, NNPC seal gas supply deals to fuel refinery, cement expansion

This quality distinction matters. Nigeria historically imported lower-grade, high-sulphur gasoline, particularly products that struggled to find markets in more regulated jurisdictions. Dangote’s higher specifications potentially set new standards for the West African market, though critics question whether the refinery can maintain consistent production volumes without supplementary feedstock imports.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery called upon S&P Global and industry stakeholders to adopt “higher levels of technical accuracy, balance, and responsibility in their reporting,” highlighting how influential industry publications shape international perceptions of Nigeria’s energy sector.

Dipo Oladehinde is a skilled energy analyst with experience across Nigeria's energy sector alongside relevant know-how about Nigeria’s macro economy.

He provides a blend of market intelligence, financial analysis, industry insight, micro and macro-level analysis of a wide range of local and international issues as well as informed technical rudiments for policy-making and private directions.

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