The refinery wants evidence for the regulator’s claim that 15.5 million barrels offered in Q2 were not accepted

In Abuja on Monday, August 10, 2026, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said the Dangote Petroleum Refinery accepted 52.6 million barrels out of 68.1 million barrels of crude offered by producers in the second quarter, while Dangote Refinery spokesman Anthony Chiejina challenged the figures and asked the regulator to provide supporting statistics.

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The figures have opened a fresh Dangote crude supply dispute over how much crude was offered to Nigeria’s largest refinery, and how much was ultimately accepted during the three months to June.

According to the NUPRC’s Q2 2026 report on the enforcement of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation, producers offered 68.1 million barrels to the refinery, while the facility took 52.6 million barrels. The difference amounts to about 15.5 million barrels.

The regulator said the refinery had indicated a requirement for 63 million barrels during the quarter, but producers offered a higher volume.

The 68.1 million barrels offered represented 98 per cent of all crude volumes offered to domestic refineries within the period, according to the commission.

“At the level of refinery participation, the statistics show that the Dangote Refinery required 63 million barrels in Q2, but the producers offered higher volumes of 68.1 million barrels,” the NUPRC said.

“Eventually, 52.6 million barrels were accepted by the Dangote refinery. This implies that the refinery only accepted 78 per cent of what it was offered.”

Chiejina, however, said Dangote would need to see the underlying records before accepting the regulator’s account.

“Let them show us the statistics, we’ll now compare and check, and then we’ll come back to you,” he said.

He added that the figures should identify when the alleged offers were made so that the refinery could reconcile them against its own records.

“Because they can’t just by word of mouth tell you, ‘Oh, we give this to Dangote’. It’s crude, it’s not pepper,” Chiejina said.

The disagreement comes as Nigeria continues to tighten its efforts to ensure that domestic refineries have access to locally produced crude under the Petroleum Industry Act.

The DCSO framework requires oil producers to make crude available to domestic refiners, although the NUPRC stressed in its latest report that transactions ultimately operate on a willing buyer, willing seller basis.

That qualification is important because an allocation or offer does not necessarily mean that a cargo was physically delivered and processed. The latest figures therefore place renewed attention on the point at which an offer becomes an actual supply.

Beyond the Dangote refinery, the NUPRC said 53.7 million barrels of crude oil and condensate were supplied to local refiners between April and June, giving an overall DCSO performance rate of 97.4 per cent.

The commission said it administers the obligation through monthly consultations involving crude producers and licensed domestic refineries.

Its monthly figures showed a mixed pattern during the quarter.

In April, producers were allocated 18.13 million barrels and offered 19.31 million barrels to refiners. Actual supply reached 20.88 million barrels, equivalent to 114.9 per cent performance against the allocation.

In May, producers received an allocation of 18.78 million barrels and offered 23.19 million barrels to local refiners. Actual supply, however, fell to 14.23 million barrels, representing 75.8 per cent compliance.

June produced another improvement. Producers were allocated 18.17 million barrels and offered 26.84 million barrels to refiners, while refiners ultimately took 18.61 million barrels. That represented 102.4 per cent performance against the allocation.

The NUPRC attributed the broader improvement to increased domestic oil production and the emergence of longer-term crude supply agreements backed by bankable sales and purchase agreements between producers and refiners.

“The commission observed that the improvement in DCSO coincided with an increase in local oil production and the signing of the long-term crude supply agreement supported by bankable sales and purchase agreements between the producers and domestic refiners,” it said.

The latest figures also mark a significant shift from the difficulties that surrounded domestic crude supply when the Dangote refinery was beginning to ramp up operations.

In August 2024, Dangote publicly urged the NUPRC to enforce the DCSO, arguing that the refinery was struggling to secure enough crude directly from Nigerian producers.

At the time, the company said it often had to buy Nigerian crude through international traders at an additional premium.

The NUPRC, for its part, had previously pointed to operational difficulties among some producers and existing contractual commitments as factors affecting domestic supply.

The regulator said forcing producers to redirect committed volumes could also create contractual problems.

The two sides have therefore had a history of differing interpretations of what constitutes effective domestic crude supply.

In 2024, the regulator said it had facilitated the allocation of 29 million barrels to Dangote, while Chiejina disputed the practical significance of the figure, saying the refinery had not received the cargoes described as allocated.

The latest disagreement is emerging against a more encouraging backdrop for Nigeria’s domestic refining ambitions.

Industry analysis has pointed to higher crude production and stronger regulatory efforts as factors behind improved DCSO performance in 2026.

One recent energy-sector review noted that Nigeria’s average crude production was about 1.53 million barrels per day in May, while the NUPRC continued preparations for further upstream activity.

For Dangote, reliable access to crude remains particularly significant because the refinery has a nameplate capacity of 650,000 barrels per day and is central to Nigeria’s attempt to reduce its dependence on imported refined petroleum products.

Reuters previously reported that the facility had faced difficulties securing sufficient domestic crude, adding to the importance of the DCSO framework.

The NUPRC said it would continue enforcing the DCSO as part of the Federal Government’s wider objective of achieving energy sufficiency while sustaining gains in domestic crude production.

For now, however, the sharpest question is not whether 15.5 million barrels existed on paper as the difference between crude offered and crude accepted.

It is whether the records behind those offers show that the volumes were actually available to the refinery on terms and at times when they could reasonably have been taken.

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That is the evidence Dangote is asking the regulator to produce, leaving the latest dispute poised to turn on the underlying cargo records rather than headline figures alone.