The long awaited supply of crude oil in naira by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery which was scheduled to begin on October 1st, is yet to start as of Thursday, October 3, The Punch reported, citing “impeccable sources with three domestic refineries.”
One of the sources, who is a senior official with a domestic refinery, was quoted as saying, “You know that said it was to start on October 1, the technical committee is the one in charge now and they are working on it. They are supposed to arrive at a particular agreement and communicate it to us.
“But I can tell you that as of this moment, we haven’t received that communication yet. We are still waiting for them.”
The report also noted that the offficials at the Dangote refinery and those at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Federal Ministry of Finance, and NNPC stayed mute when contacted for updates on the naira-for-crude deal between NNPC and Dangote.
Instead, NNPC directed Punch correspondent to the Ministry of Finance to get answers. Similarly, finance ministry did not provide answers when contacted.
Another source, said to be with a major modular refinery, who is familiar with the deal, said, “The crude oil refiners’ body in Nigeria hasn’t been communicated yet on the deal. So we await the official communication because up till last week, we spoke with them (the government) and they assured us that the deal was still on course.
“However, I’d like to state that deals of this nature take a while before they are completed. There are a lot of things to be sorted before a final decision is reached. So we have to wait for them.”
Recall that the Technical Sub-Committee on Domestic Sales of Crude Oil in Local Currency had confirmed that the supply of crude in naira by NNPC to the Dangote refinery would begin on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
“From October 1, NNPC will commence the supply of about 385kbpd (385,000 barrels per day) of crude oil to the Dangote refinery to be paid for in naira,” the committee had declared.
The Chairman of the Technical Sub-Committee is Zacch Adedeji, who doubles as Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
“Since then, the implementation committee chaired by the Minister of Finance and we, the technical committee, have worked intensely with NNPC and Dangote refinery to fashion out the details of the modalities for the implementation of the FEC approval,” Adedeji had stated in September.
“In return, the Dangote refinery will supply PMS (petrol) and diesel of equivalent value to the domestic market to be paid in naira.
“Diesel will be sold in naira by the Dangote refinery to any interested off-taker. PMS will only be sold to NNPC. NNPC will then sell to various marketers for now. All associated regulatory costs (NPA, NIMASA, etc.) will also be paid in naira. We are also setting up a one-stop shop that will coordinate service provision from all regulatory agencies, security agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth implementation of this initiative.”
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
