BY: Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
An X user claimed that BUA Group has quietly called off plans to build a petroleum refinery in Akwa Ibom State.
Verdict
False. Available evidence showed that BUA Group has not called off plans to build a petroleum refinery in Akwa Ibom State.
Full Text
An X user Dokun Ojomo @DokunOjomo claimed in a post that BUA Group has quietly called off plans to build a petroleum refinery in Akwa Ibom State.
The user quoted a Bloomberg Africa post reporting that Africa’s richest man is calling off plans to invest in a new steel plant in Nigeria after the government accused him of seeking to become a monopoly.
In recent months, Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals and regulators in Nigeria’s petroleum industry have been involved in a face-off over the operations of the 650,000 bpd oil refinery.
The situation took a new turn last week when the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed disclosed that the Dangote refinery is still at the pre-commissioning stage and has not been licensed.
Ahmed also added that “in terms of quality, currently, the AGO quality in terms of sulphur is the lowest as far as West Africa’s requirement of 50 ppm,
“Dangote refinery as well as some major refineries like Waltersmith refinery, produce between 650 to 1200 ppm. So, in terms of quality, their quality is much more inferior to the imported quality.” he said.
However, the billionaire refuted Ahmed’s claim that petroleum products from his refinery are substandard.
In his defence during the visit of members of the House of Representatives to the refinery on Saturday, Dangote insisted that its diesel is 80 percent superior to those currently imported into Nigeria, he also wondered why a regulatory authority like the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that should protect local industries is castigating the latter and even lying in media reports to justify the need to continue importation of dirty fuel into the country.
The business tycoon also revealed that he will halt his plans to invest in Nigeria’s steel industry to avoid being accused of monopoly.
“You know, about doing a new business which we announced, that is, steel. Actually, our board has decided that we shouldn’t do the steel because if we do the steel business, we will be called all sorts of names like monopoly. And then also, imports will be encouraged,” Mr Dangote said.
“So we don’t want to go into that. Let other Nigerians go and do it because we are not the only Nigerians here. Some Nigerians may even have more cash than us. They should bring that money from Dubai and other parts of the world and come and invest in our own fatherland,” he said.
In a bid to resolve the lingering face-off, Nigeria’s Minister for State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri convened a high-level meeting on Monday with top executives from Dangote Group led by Aliko Dangote, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dangote Group; Farouk Ahmed, chief executive of the NMDPRA; Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer of the NUPRC and Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group chief executive officer.
According to a statement by Nneamaka Okafor, the special adviser on media and communication to the minister, the meeting focused on finding a sustainable and lasting solution to the current impasse affecting the Dangote refinery, with all parties demonstrating a commitment to collaborative and proactive problem-solving.
The statement added that the minister emphasised the importance of cooperation and synergy among all stakeholders to ensure the success and optimal performance of the oil and gas sector, which is pivotal for Nigeria’s economic growth and energy security.
It is in light of the above that FactCheckAfrica seeks to verify the veracity of the claim that BUA Group, a competitor, has called off plans to build a petroleum refinery in Akwa Ibom State.
Verification
The BUA Group kick-started plans to delve into the oil refining business in 2020 when it announced the selection of France-based Axens (a worldwide group that provides a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, for the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates as well as for gas treatment and conversion options) for its proposed 200,000 refinery project which would be cited in Akwa Ibom state.
According to the Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the group is proposing the 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Akwa Ibom to help Nigeria cut the huge cost of lifting crude oil, refining, and importing the products.
Rabiu added that the decision to site the refinery in Akwa Ibom – Southern Nigeria was strategic due to the huge availability of raw materials and its proximity to export petroleum products to regional countries and the multi-billion-dollar integrated 200,000 bpd refinery and petrochemicals plant will be producing Euro-V fuels and Polypropylene for the domestic and regional markets.
As of 2021 when the agreement was signed, construction was expected to take between three to four years while the refinery is expected to be operational by 2024 all things being equal. Corroborating this, a report published on July 20 2023 by GlobalData’s Oil & Gas Intelligence Center stated that “Akwa Ibom III refinery is proposed to be built in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. It is expected to start operations in 2024. The refinery will be operated by BUA Group.”
The center provides detailed profiles of 34,000+ oil and gas fields, 400,000+ exploration blocks, 1,100+ LNG terminals, 3,400+ gas processing plants, 5,000+ storage terminals, and 8,000+ pipelines, 1,400+ refineries and 13,000+ petrochemical plants worldwide.
However, there were reports of land disputes among the host communities as they laid claim to the proposed land for the construction of a refinery. This may have slowed down the construction of the refinery.
The Southern Examiner reported how Ekid Peoples Union (EPU), the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Ekid people, is saying that the state government was wrong to have allocated the land to BUA without proper negotiations with them.
EPU’s President-General, Samuel Udonsak, a renowned medical doctor, is warning that Ekid people could rise up against the government if it failed to recognise that Akoiyak, otherwise known as Stubb’s Creek Forest, was in Ekid land, and not Ibeno.
“We have valid evidence and court judgments to back up our claims; we are not just claiming it. What the Ibeno people have about the land is mere magazines”, Udonsak says.
He is therefore calling on BUA Petrochemical Refinery Ltd to meet with the stakeholders of the host communities to address nagging issues before the commencement of operations.
We also combed through the Internet and social media platforms to check the latest developments on the refinery but our search proved abortive.
We further asked our AI fact-checking tool, MyAIFactChecker, the result showed that based on the latest available information, BUA Group has not called off plans to build a petroleum refinery in Akwa Ibom State. In fact, the group is still working on the project and operations are expected to start in 2024.
Conclusion
Based on available evidence, BUA Group has not called off plans to build a petroleum refinery in Akwa Ibom State. The projected year of operations is 2024 but land ownership dispute between the host community and the Akwa Ibom State Government is threatening it.
Edited by: Habeeb Adisa
