There are signs that the planned supply of crude oil in naira from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, scheduled to commence on October 1, 2024, had not begun as of Thursday, October 3.
Officials from Dangote Refinery, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Federal Ministry of Finance, and NNPC, among others, remained silent when asked for updates on the naira-for-crude arrangement between NNPC and Dangote.
On Monday, The PUNCH reported that the Technical Sub-Committee on Domestic Sales of Crude Oil in Local Currency had confirmed the previous day that the supply of crude in naira from NNPC to the Dangote refinery was set to start on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
On September 13, 2024, the committee announced that the Federal Executive Council, led by President Bola Tinubu, had approved the sale of crude to local refineries in naira, as well as the purchase of petroleum products in naira.
“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.
“I can confirm that the Chairman of the Sub-Technical Committee, Zacch Adedeji, is working day and night to ensure that things go according to plans. He knows how important it is to have the agreement implemented as has been planned for the benefit of Nigerians,” Adekanmbi had stated.
On Thursday, reliable sources from three local refineries indicated that they were unaware of whether the agreement had begun.
When our correspondent reached out for information about the deal, NNPC officials remained silent and referred them to the Ministry of Finance for clarification. However, the finance ministry did not respond when contacted.
Nevertheless, a high-ranking official from a local refinery mentioned that crude oil refiners, including Dangote, are still waiting for the Federal Government to supply crude oil in naira.
The official emphasized that the government, via its crude-for-naira committee, had guaranteed operators that substantial progress was being made to fulfill the agreement.
“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 operator who spoke in confidence due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.
The PUNCH
