Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has accused International Oil Companies (IOCs) in Nigeria of deliberately obstructing the operations of the Dangote Oil Refinery.

Devakumar Edwin, Vice President of Oil and Gas at DIL, made this assertion during a training session for energy journalists, alleging that IOCs are inflating prices for locally sourced crude oil.

“While the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) is trying their best to allocate the crude for us,” Edwin stated, “the IOCs are deliberately and willfully frustrating our efforts to buy the local crude.

They are either asking for ridiculous/humongous premiums or simply stating that crude is not available. At some point, we paid $6 over and above the market price.”

Edwin highlighted recent efforts by the NUPRC to enforce domestic crude oil supply obligations (DCSO) as mandated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). However, he suggested these efforts are being undermined by the IOCs.

“It would be recalled that the NUPRC recently met with crude oil producers and refinery owners in Nigeria to ensure full adherence to Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligations (DCSO), as enunciated under section 109(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA),” Edwin explained. “It seems that the IOCs’ objective is to ensure that our Petroleum Refinery fails.”

The alleged actions of the IOCs have reportedly forced the Dangote Refinery to reduce production and import crude oil from distant locations such as the United States, significantly increasing their production costs.