Nigeria may end fuel imports from October as focus shifts to domestic supply

 

Maureen Aguta

 

Indication at the weekend was that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) would stop placing orders for petroleum imports and will rely on Dangote Refinery for domestic supply from October.

This came as NNPCL has disclosed that it bought fuel from Dangote Refinery at N898 per litre.

The state oil firm had moved about 300 trucks to the 650,000 capacity refinery in Lagos, on Saturday, and as at the time of filing this report, our correspondent learnt that about 70 have loaded Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also called petrol at the Dangote Refinery fuel loading bay.

Speaking with Daily Trust over the price, Chief Spokesperson of the NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, said, “We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today. The claim that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect. For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per liter.”

He further confirmed that over 70 trucks have already loaded and exited the Dangote Refinery.

NNPCL had notified the Nigerian Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that it would not be importing petroleum products from October if the price is competitive.

This is just as the Lagos State Government has promised a comprehensive traffic management strategy to guarantee the free flow of traffic along the Lekki-Ajah corridor ahead of the refinery’s commencement of lifting of refined petrol to outlets.

Quoting sources privy to the deal, Advocacy Times reports that, “NNPC has also notified the Nigerian Upstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) that it would not be importing petroleum products from October if the price is competitive.”

According to the report, the NNPC would from October 1 commence the supply of about 385,000 barrels per day of crude oil to the refinery, which will be paid for in Naira.

As part of the agreement, the refinery would supply petrol and diesel of equivalent value to the domestic market, also to be paid in Naira.

However, diesel is expected to be sold in Naira by the refinery to any interested off-taker, while petrol will only be sold to NNPC for distribution to various oil marketers.

The NMDPRA is further expected to revalidate the production figures ahead of plans by the national oil company to stop placing orders for petrol importation from October.

Based on this forecast for petrol from domestic refineries, the NMDPRA was said to have stated that a total of 389.16 million litres of petrol will be produced in September.

However, in October, November and December this year, the country is expected to produce 1.09 billion litres, 1.08 billion litres and 1.45 billion litres respectively.

For January, February, and March 2025, it was learnt that the projected productions are 1.47 billion litres, 1.34 billion litres, and 1.47 billion litres.

It was gathered that the NNPC has not placed any petrol import supply orders for October 2024.

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zach Adedeji had announced on Friday that NNPC would begin lifting petrol from the $20 billion refinery on September 15, with an initial 25 million litres per day.

As part of the resolution, Adedeji said NNPC would be the sole off-taker of petrol from Dangote Refinery while diesel from the facility would be sold directly to any interested marketer.

While crude supplied to Dangote Refinery would be paid in naira, the FIRS boss added that both petrol and diesel from the refinery as well as all costs associated with the transactions would also be paid in the local currency.