By Aduragbemi Omiyale
There are strong indications that the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos has commenced the sale of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO, otherwise known as diesel, to independent marketers in the country.
The oil facility, owned by Africa’s richest man, Mr Aliko Dangote, was commissioned last May by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The refinery can process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, but since it was inaugurated, it has not sold petroleum products in commercial quantities.
This has caused many tongues to wag about the $20 billion oil facility designed to meet the local demands and have enough for exports.
The Dangote Refinery earlier this year confirmed receiving about six million barrels of crude oil from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which controls a 20 per cent stake in the firm.
In a report on Tuesday, the Nation said Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun the sale of diesel to members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) from today.
It quoted the National President of the group, Mr Abubakar Maigandi, as confirming the development, noting that the minimum marketers can purchase was one million litres.
“The least volume a marketer can buy is one million litres,” Mr Maigandi reportedly said, as Business Post could not independently verify this.
“They started pumping out diesel to marketers last week. They also promised to sell aviation fuel soon. Some of my members confirmed this to me after making a purchase,” The Punch also quoted Mr Maigandi as saying.
He assured that, “The price of diesel is going to fall because of the release of products from Dangote Refinery. It is already coming down in Lagos.”
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka