The House of Representatives on Thursday said it will investigate an alleged plot by International Oil Companies (IOCs) to frustrate the operations of Dangote refinery.

This followed a matter of urgent national importance raised by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda.

The lower chamber expressed worry hat there could be an ongoing manipulation of the price of local crude, preventing the Dangote refinery from buying locally, thereby affecting the cost of the refined product.

The lawmakers also said it would investigate the actual percentage of the Federal Government’s shares in Dangote refinery.

According to Chinda, Dangote had said Nigeria owns 7.3 per cent as against the 20 per cent shares claim because the Federal Government was unable to meet its own obligations.

Thereafter, the green chamber urged the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to intervene in the situation to ensure the success of the Dangote refinery for the good of the country.

On Wednesday, the refinery’s management again accused the IOCs of frustrating its refinery operations, saying they insisted on selling crude oil to its refinery through their foreign agents.

The company in a statement argued that the local price of crude would continue to increase because the trading arms offer cargoes at $2 to $4 per barrel, above NUPRC official price.

“When cargoes are offered to the oil company by the trading arms, it is sometimes at a $2-$4 (per barrel) premium above the official price set by NUPRC,” the Vice President of Oil & Gas, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr DVG Edwin, said.

He commended the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for its various interventions in the oil company’s crude supply requests from IOCs, and for publishing the Domestic Crude Supply.

The company alleged that the foreign oil producers seemed to be prioritising Asian countries in selling the crude they produced in Nigeria, saying the local price of crude would continue to increase because the trading arms offer cargoes at $2 to $4 per barrel, above NUPRC official price.

“As an example, we paid $96.23 per barrel for a cargo of Bonga crude grade in April (excluding transport). The price consisted of $90.15 dated Brent price + $5.08 NNPC premium (NSP) + $1 trader premium.

“In the same month, we were able to buy WTI at a dated Brent price of $90.15 + $0.93 trader premium including transport.

“When NNPC subsequently lowered its premium based on market feedback that it was too high, some traders then started asking us for a premium of up to $4m over and above the NSP for a cargo of Bonny Light.

“Data on platforms like Platts and Argus shows that the price offered to us is way higher than the market prices tracked by these platforms,” the statement read.