Dangote Refinery to cut fuel import, evils of subsidy shortly – PENGASSAN

The coming onstream of Dangote Refinery in the coming days will cut importation of petroleum products by NNPC Limited and the evils of petrol subsidy.

The president, Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Festus Osifo, stated this on Thursday, at the 7th Triennial National Delegates’ Conference in Abuja.

He said with the refinery, there will be an impact on the fuel supply dynamics.

“We welcome the bold move by operators of Dangote Refinery coming on stream soon and hope that its addition will enhance local production, reduce products importation as well as end the era of uncertainties in petroleum products pricing and evils of subsidy payment,” he said.

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While he commended NNPC Ltd for the rehabilitation of the refineries, especially the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, the PENGASSAN head revealed that South Korean Daewoo (the contractor) has not mobilised to Kaduna Refinery despite signing the contract early this year.

“Kaduna is yet to start and we are pushing to ensure they are completed on time,” he said, as he partly blamed the delay on the insecurity and kidnapping in Kaduna.

On tackling the lingering energy crisis, PENGASSAN tasked the incoming government on hastening the completion of the refineries’ rehabilitation.

“The incoming government must do all within its reach to see to the conclusion of the current rehabilitation effort and initiatives that are currently in place so that our nation’s refinery will come up in no time,” Osifo said.

He also said after nine months of battling crude oil theft along with protests by oil workers, production has moved up by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Highlighting the steps PENGASSAN took, Osifo said: “Key among these was the nationwide protests against crude oil theft and presentations at the National Assembly. These efforts had started yielding fruits as our crude oil production level which was less than a million bpd in August 2022 had risen to more than 1.5mbpd today.”