BUSINESS INSIDER
As seen in a document from the Nigerian Port Authority, the Punch Newspaper, reported that between Monday, March 17, and Sunday, March 23, seven vessels carrying imported petrol are expected to dock at seaports around the country’s borders.
The document also shows that these vessels are set to utilize three of Nigeria’s seaports, bringing in 115,000 metric tonnes, or 154.22 million liters, of PMS.
The increase in importation of petrol is a result of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPC) decision to halt the Naira-for-Crude initiative, a deal that allowed local oil producers to buy crude in the country’s local currency.
The halt of crude supplies in the local currency, according to some domestic crude oil refiners, is the most recent ploy to thwart the Dangote Refinery and reinstate the complete importation of refined petroleum products.
The Dangote refinery has in recent weeks decided to source more of its crude from foreign markets to cut down cost, including purchasing over three million barrels of crude from the United States since the beginning of the month.
The Dangote refinery was also forced to source crude from Equatorial Guinea, as well as gloss over the idea of selling its petrol in dollars.
Eche Idoko, the National Publicity Secretary of the Crude Oil Refinery-owners Association of Nigeria, explained that the deal’s suspension undermines the efforts of all parties involved to attain national energy security.
He said that some persons were upset by the Dangote’s ongoing price reductions of fuel and that they just exploited monopoly negotiations to reinstate importation as a substitute, as seen on the Punch.
As recently as October 2024, a report by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Company (OPEC), showed that Nigeria imported a higher volume of petrol in October compared to September, despite the country’s oil refining capacity.
However, by January 2025, reports indicated that Nigeria’s petrol imports reached their lowest level in eight years, thanks to the operations of the Dangote Refinery.
Shipments to Nigeria averaged around 110,000 barrels per day between January 1 and 24.
This, coupled with the fact that Dangote’s fuel price reductions, which were said to be offsetting the bottom line of oil importers in the country is the basis for the accusation that some players in the Nigerian oil market are trying to frustrate the efforts of the Dangote Refinery.
In an interview with Forbes, the head of the Refinery, Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote, spoke about this fight with what he described as the oil mafia…
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