PUNCH
Oil producers, under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group, have warned against being forced to sell crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other local ones in Nigeria.
The IPPG produces about 30 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
The latest crude oil production data from NUPRC showed that Nigeria’s total production (both crude and condensates) was 1,533,698 barrels in July. When 30 per cent of this figure is calculated, the IPPG should be producing about 460,000bpd of crude.
The IPPG also called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to re-direct its allocated crude oil volumes to Dangote refinery and other local refineries to mitigate the current crude supply shortage being experienced by the local refiners that is impacting local product availability in many parts of Nigeria.
The Chairman of IPPG, Abdulrazak Isa, in a letter dated August 16, 2024, and addressed to the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, said NNPC should utilise its allocated 445,000 barrels per day intervention crude oil volume to salvage the current situation as it did in many instances in the past.
Isa said some IPPG members already owned and/or were supplying crude oil to local refineries.
He insisted that NNPC was in a good position to mitigate the current crude supply shortfall faced by local refiners by leveraging its statutory crude allocation to meet local domestic consumption.
