LAGOS, Oct. 21 (AGCNewsNet) — The Dangote Refinery has called on petroleum marketers across Nigeria to bring their trucks for petrol loading, saying it currently has more than 310 million litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) in stock.

The Vice President of Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin, said that the refinery had enough petrol for both domestic supply and export, adding that marketers were free to bring any number of trucks to its gantry.

“Bring your tankers. We will load. Any number of tankers you bring, we’ll load,” Edwin said, according to Punch newspaper. “It’s a challenge I’m throwing today. No one can come and tell me I’m not loading. We have more than 310 million litres as of now.”

Edwin said some marketers may have raised pump prices on the assumption that the refinery had suspended petrol production. “This is again a campaign to try to say prices will go up. Maybe they think Dangote is not supplying. But we are,” he said.

Edwin explained that the refinery had temporarily reduced its crude intake due to inventory management decisions, not production problems.

“When the prices are a bit low, we buy a lot. But if your inventory of crude is very high, nobody would like to lock so much money into their tanks,” he said. “So, we reduce our inflow, which is what happened. It has nothing to do with the factory working or not working.”

He acknowledged that operational interruptions were normal in large-scale industrial facilities. “No factory works 100 per cent every day without a problem,” Edwin said. “All major refineries undergo turnaround maintenance. A new refinery like this will go for one every five years.”

According to Edwin, the refinery continues to produce and load petrol daily while maintaining over 310 million litres of stock.

Edwin reaffirmed that the 650,000-barrel-per-day facility can meet Nigeria’s entire demand for petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel while exporting almost 50 per cent of its total output.

“It’s a very large refinery,” he said. “We produce 94 per cent lighter products — PMS, AGO, or Jet A1 — and only 6 per cent heavier products. Our production of lighter products is much, much more than Nigeria’s requirements.”

He added that the refinery was fully operational, saying, “You saw the refinery working, and you can come and see our stock position.”

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