The Dangote Refinery has given assurances that its locally-refined petrol would hit the market this month of August.
The company’s Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, disclosed this on Monday.
The response came amid concerns over the earlier announcement that the refinery would commence domestic supply by mid-August.
Asked why the refinery is yet to commence domestic supply at its stipulated date of August 12, Chiejina responded: “We said August, and today is 12 August. Just wait; this is August.”
Over the months, the company had set dates for its domestic petrol supply, but failed to meet the timelines.
In June, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said petrol, refined at the refinery, will hit the market in July.
Dangote, who disclosed this when he received a Senate delegation led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio on a tour of the facility, explained that the date change was because of a delay that prompted the shift from the initially proposed date of June to mid-July.
“We had a bit of delay, but PMS will start coming out by 10 to 15 of July. But then, we want to keep it in the tank to make sure that it settles. So by the third week of July, we’ll be able to come out to take it into the market,” Dangote said at the time.
Again in July, Dangote said petrol production in the refinery was disrupted because of the fire incident at the facility.
“PMS was supposed to be out by July, but we had a fire incident. The incident disrupted us for a few days, but latest 10 or 12 of August, PMS will be ready,” Dangote said, while addressing journalists at the refinery site.
The 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery commenced diesel and aviation fuel production in January.
Announcing the commencement of production, the company said the refinery had received 6 million barrels of crude oil at its two SPMs 25 kilometres from the shore.
The first crude delivery was done on December 12, 2023, and the sixth cargo was delivered on January 8.