The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has announced plans to sign a new deal with Dangote Refinery to address fuel prices.
The NNPCL revealed this in a statement signed by the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye on Monday.
This followed reports that the NNPCL had suspended the naira-to-crude contract till 2030, as it had pre-sold all its crude oil.
Soneye dismissed the circulating reports regarding the alleged unilateral termination of the naira-for-crude contract with Dangote Refinery. He clarified that the deal had been structured as a six-month agreement, subject to availability, and would expire in March 2025.
Additionally, the spokesperson disclosed that discussions are currently ongoing towards establishing a new contract.
According to him, the NNPCL has supplied over 48 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote Refinery since October 2024.
Futhermore, the Refinery has received over 84 million barrels of crude oil from NNPCL since it commenced operations in 2023.
NNPCL affirms local refineries’ access to crude oil
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Technical Sub-Committee on the naira-for-crude deal, Zacch Adedeji, confirmed that the NNPCL’s claims about the renewal of the contract are accurate.
Adedeji explained that the implementation of this contract has provided results that indicated it as the correct approach. Therefore, there are no intentions to discontinue a policy that will help improve the economy.
He added that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission is actively ensuring compliance with the Domestic Crude Oil Obligations provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act.
Furthermore, the Chairman revealed that local refineries are not denied access to domestic crude oil. He noted that the procedure for supplying crude oil to local refineries remained unchanged.
Recall that in October 2024, the Federal Government commenced the sales of crude oil and refined petroleum products in naira.
The development happened a few months after the Federal Executive Council approved President Bola Tinubu’s proposal. Tinubu in his proposal directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other refineries in naira.
The policy aimed to optimize the utilization of local refining capacity in stabilizing pump prices. Consequently, this could potentially result in lower and more predictable fuel costs for customers.
