NNPC Stops Petroleum Imports, Sources Fuel Locally From Dangote And Other Refineries

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) revealed Monday that it has stopped importing refined petroleum products and was now sourcing fuel from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other local refineries.

At the opening of the 42nd Nigeria Association of Petroleum Explorationists Annual Conference in Lagos, the Group CEO of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, explained that the company was a part-owner of the Dangote Refinery, emphasizing that this was a strategic effort to strengthen the country's domestic fuel supply.

NNPC no longer imported any petroleum products and now, it was only getting fuel from domestic refineries, Kyari confirmed. He stressed that NNPC was the only company buying fuel from the Dangote Refinery until the government allowed other marketers to directly source from it.

He rejected the claims that NNPC was sabotaging the Dangote refinery, adding that many reports were falsely suggesting they were undermining domestic refineries by not supporting them.

The group CEO underscored that NNPC was proud to be a part-owner of the Dangote refinery.

He explained that NNPC saw a clear opportunity to supply 300,000 barrels of crude oil to the domestic market, as oil demand will continue to rise and markets may become harder to find in the future. The company was already committed to supplying crude to domestic refineries, as per Kyari.

"We should never forget that Nigerian crude is 'Lamborghini crude', if we choose that every product that we have in this country must come from domestic production, then we must deal with pricing," he said, Punch reported.

"Otherwise, out there in the global market, everybody buys Nigerian crude and blends it with dirtier crude to process, a lot of you will confirm this. So, no one takes Nigerian crude except one or two refineries that I know."

Kyari explained that straight processing of Nigerian crude oil was uncommon because it typically resulted in a lower-value product. He said that Nigeria should process all of its crude oil domestically to maximize its value.

While intermediate products can be sold on the market, there was no need to export gasoline made from Nigerian oil. He added that Nigeria should focus on processing oil domestically, ensuring the products were of high quality.

However, the quality depended on the market, and not every customer required premium products, he added. The goal was to make sure Nigeria processed its oil domestically, while maintaining the necessary quality for local needs.