Dangote rejects NMDPRA claims, says sulphur content meets African standard

Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has strongly refuted allegations by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA), insisting its diesel is 80percent superior to those currently imported into Nigeria.

The richest man in Africa said this Saturday while showing members of the House of Reps the company’s facilities.

“Until late last year, diesel imports into Nigeria were up to 7,000 parts per million (ppm) of Sulphur which has been going on for many years. Our diesel is produced currently at significantly lower levels of Sulphur; as such, we find baseless the allegation that the reason for the reduction is linked to quality. What we are producing is 80 percent of what is being imported into the country,” Anthony Chiejine, the company’s spokesperson Dangote Industries Limited said.

“Another inaccurate assertion is that Medium Level Sulphur diesel is meant for off-road use. This is a completely false statement as this would have invariably meant that all the imports for the last 20 years have been damaging equipment.

“Thirdly, diesel imports for the high Sulphur grade have been at significantly higher prices until we started operation. If indeed high Sulphur diesel is sold at lower prices how come we never saw the lower prices until now?” the spokesperson said.

Dangote diesel currently contains 87.6 ppm

For instance, Dangote’s laboratory officials tested diesel products from two major retail outlets in Nigeria – TotalEnergies and Matrix – against the sample produced by Dangote Refinery.

The test was carried out using a ED-XRF Spectro Photometer, using the ASTM D4294 method.

The sample from TotalEnergies’s diesel showed 1,829ppm sulphur concentration. The sample from Matrix retail showed 2,2752.8682ppm sulphur concentration while the diesel sample from Dangote Refinery showed 87.6ppm sulphur concentration.

Targets 10ppm sulphur content August

“By the end of next week, we should be on 50ppm and by August, it should be down to 10ppm,” Dangote said.

BusinessDay’s findings showed the minimum global standard is 50ppm, while 200ppm is still acceptable in Africa till the end of the year.

On Thursday, July 18, Farouk Ahmed, chief executive officer of NMDPRA alleged Dangote refinery as well as some major refineries like Waltersmith refinery, produce between 650 to 1200 ppm.

Temi Bamgbose

Temi Bamgbose is a new-generation media professional who has an intimate understanding of new and emerging media communications elements. He possesses a degree in Agricultural Extension and Rural Development from the University of Ibadan. He holds a Diploma in Electrical Electronics Engineering from the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and a Journalism Diploma from the London School of Journalism. His career as a multimedia journalist saw him working with several online news platforms including The Punch -- the most widely read Nigerian newspaper -- where he won, along with his team of two, the 2017 season of the Global Editors Network NAN Editors Lab innovation competition. Temi has also worked with a number of public relations agencies. He also worked extensively on communications accounts of multinational brands. He is a wildlife conservation enthusiast.