The Nigerian government on Tuesday said it will soon grant the Dangote refinery a valid licence to operate fully in the country.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, disclosed this at the Stakeholders’ Consultation Forum on Midstream Petroleum Host Community Development Trust Regulations in Abuja on Tuesday.
Mr Ahmed said the commission had issued three refineries with valid licences to operate in the country.
“We have issued three refineries with valid licences. We awarded Dangote refinery even in their pre-commissioning and sooner than later, they will have full commishadn and a valid licence to operate,” Mr Ahmed said.
Mr Ahmed, represented by the Executive Director, Distribution Systems Storage Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, explained that about 15 gas facilities in the country have valid licences while more are undergoing processing.
“In the gas processing facility, within the midstream, there are about 15 valid licenses. And much is under processing. If you go to the downstream, in the gas state of the downstream, there are more than 1,199 facilities with NMDPRA valid licenses.
“More than 176 operators hold gas import permthe liquid licencing side of the downstream; there are 130 depots with valid licenses and coastal vessels of more than 69 valid licences as of today. And in the retail outlets, we have 9,464 licenced retail outlets as of 10:00 a.m. today 30 April,” he said.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery commenced production of diesel and aviation fuel in January.
Announcing the commencement of the statement, the company said the refinery had received six million barrels of crude oil at its two SPMs 25 kilometres from the shore.
The first crude delivery was done on 12 December 2023, and the sixth cargo was delivered on 8 January.
The company made a further move towards the commencement of the production of refined petroleum products with the receipt of an additional one million barrels of bonny light crude supplied by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC Ltd).
Earlier in April, the company commenced the supply of petroleum products to the local market.
