The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has announced that it will no longer import gasoline.
NNPC announced on Monday that it has finally ended this long-standing practice.
Prior to this, the Association of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) had already announced that it would directly purchase products from the $20 billion Dangote facility.
NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, made the announcement during a keynote address at the 42nd Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorators (NAPE) in Lagos.
Kyari highlighted NNPC’s role as a proud co-owner of the Dangote refinery, noting that the company recognises the $20 billion refinery as a key market for its production of at least 300,000 barrels per day, which will help it address the challenges of a shrinking crude oil market.
“Oil is being discovered in unexpected places around the world and people have a choice. So we saw an opportunity to supply not only Dangote but all the refineries in the country.
“So it’s a well-considered business decision. So we knew from the beginning that it was in our interest to supply crude to the refineries in the country.
“So we don’t need any convincing. We don’t need people to tell us. We don’t need pressure from the streets to do this. We are already doing this,” Kyari explained.
He also revealed that NNPC has stopped importing refined petroleum products in line with the company’s commitment to support local processing of all crude oil produced in Nigeria.
Kyari explained: “That is why I strongly believe that all the crude oil we produce in the country must be processed in the best possible way.
And we are going to do everything possible to make sure that this sticks.
And currently, NNPC does not import any products. We only source from local refineries. ”
He said the company is working with the Federal Government to resolve the pricing issues that arise from sourcing all its raw materials from the domestic market.
Kyari also highlighted the impact of pressuring Nigerian oil producers to supply crude to local refineries and the Naira.
He noted that Nigerian crude is a premium grade and commands a premium price. He explained that in the global market, refineries buy Nigerian crude to blend with heavy crude.
He added that few refineries are willing to process Nigerian crude directly as it is expensive and of high quality.
Kyari also denied spreading allegations that the NNPC was reluctant to sell naira crude to domestic refineries, describing such allegations as sabotage.
He reminded other oil producing countries that the commitment to domestic crude applies to both the NNPC and them, stressing that they must supply crude to NNPC’s four refineries once they resume production.
Kyari clarified that selling crude oil to local refineries for naira does not equate to a loss in product value. Rather, it only bridges the foreign exchange gap, which strengthens the local currency and helps boost the country’s economy.
He also revealed that NNPC has successfully settled its long-standing $2.4 billion cash call obligation to international oil majors operating in Nigeria.
He confirmed that the company is now debt-free, stressing that this significant achievement was only achieved after the complete elimination of all subsidies.