Kehinde Fajobi
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has raised concerns over the federal government’s naira-based crude oil sales initiative, citing insufficient supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Edwin Devakumar, Vice-President of Dangote Industries Limited, revealed the challenges in an interview with Reuters on Friday.
“We need 650,000 barrels per day; NNPC agreed to give a minimum of 385,000 bpd, but they are not even delivering that,” Devakumar said.
He described the crude deliveries under the scheme as “peanuts.”
Mathins Obaze, Acting Executive Director of the Crude Oil Refinery-owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), also commented on the situation.
“Members are still unable to access crude in naira and are currently engaging the government for a resolution,” Obaze stated, adding that only the Dangote refinery has benefited from the arrangement.
The federal government announced the naira-for-crude initiative on October 5 to focus on local supply.
Shortly after, the Dangote Refinery received four cargoes of crude oil from NNPC under the scheme.
On November 21, the refinery made its first crude purchase from the United States in three months as it sought to increase production.