The supply of crude oil in naira to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited is to last for six months in the first instance, pending a further review by the Technical Sub-Committee on Domestic Sales of Crude Oil in Local Currency.
Multiple sources from the committee and the Dangote refinery confirmed on Monday that the naira-for-crude deal would last six months in the first phase because crude oil, being an international product, is priced in dollars.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Monday that the Federal Government was set to deliver up to 400,000 barrels of Nigerian crude oil daily to the Dangote refinery.
The report said the development is expected to take place over the next two months, amounting to 24 million barrels of Nigerian crude oil supply between October and November 2024.
Also on Monday, oil marketers declared that they had yet to receive any information from NNPC and the Dangote refinery as regards the alleged halt of NNPC as the sole off-taker of the petrol produced by the Lagos-based refinery.
There were reports on Monday that NNPC was no longer the sole off-taker of petrol from the Dangote refinery. NNPC and Dangote did not confirm this despite several attempts by our correspondents to get their responses on the matter.
While the alleged halt of NNPC as the sole off-taker of Dangote petrol trended in the oil sector on Monday, some depots stopped the sales of products in their tanks, awaiting a possible hike in the price of petrol.
This, however, did not happen, as neither NNPC nor the Dangote refinery confirmed the claim. The depots that earlier stopped sales eventually resumed operations after some hours.
Also on Monday, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria revealed that the NNPC portal used for the purchase of petrol had been opened to IPMAN members by the national oil company.
The portal had earlier been shut to IPMAN members, depriving them of access to pay for products. But on Monday, the independent marketers revealed that the portal had been opened.
Naira-for-crude deal
Several sources said the naira-for-crude deal is to last for six months. They also stated that the product is still being expected by the Dangote refinery.
“We’ve realised that many Nigerians are excited that the government has agreed to the naira-for-crude deal, but most people don’t know that the deal is to last six months in the first instance,” an impeccable source at the Dangote refinery who spoke in confidence due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.
On Saturday the Federal Government said it had commenced the sales of crude oil and other refined products in naira. The Federal Ministry of Finance disclosed this in a post on its X handle.