- Petrol imports jump by 105% to N15trn – NBS
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has strongly refuted claims alleging the termination of the Naira-for-Crude agreement with Dangote Refinery.
NNPCL emphasised that it has consistently supplied the refinery with a total of 84 million barrels of crude oil since the refinery began its operations in 2023.
In a statement on Monday, the NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, stated that discussions for the renewal of the agreement are currently ongoing, with the aim of establishing a new contract.
Soneye also stated that under the deal initiated in October 2024, the 650,000-capacity refinery has received 48 million barrels to refine petroleum products.
The statement explained that the agreement for the sale of crude oil in naira was structured as a six-month contract and is set to expire at the end of March 2025.
The statement read, “NNPC Limited has noted recent reports circulating on social media regarding the alleged unilateral termination of the crude oil sales agreement in Naira between NNPC and Dangote Refinery. To clarify, the contract for the sale of crude oil in Naira was structured as a six-month agreement, subject to availability, and expires at the end of March 2025.
“Discussions are currently ongoing towards emplacing a new contract.
“Under this arrangement, NNPC has made over 48 million barrels of crude oil available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024.
“In aggregate, NNPC has made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the Refinery since its commencement of operations in 2023. NNPC Limited remains committed to supplying crude oil for local refining based on mutually agreed terms and conditions.”
Petrol imports jump by 105% to N15trn – NBS
Meanwhile, petrol imports surged in 2024, doubling despite an increase in domestic refining capacity, highlighting the country’s continued reliance on imported fuel.
The latest data from the foreign trade statistics report of the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the cost of petrol imports rose by 105.3 per cent to N15.42trn in 2024 from the N7.51trn recorded in 2023.
This sharp increase in fuel import expenditure came at a time when expectations were high for a decline in reliance on foreign supply following significant investments in local refining.
The commencement of operations at the 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity Dangote Petroleum Refinery last year and ongoing revival efforts at the other local refineries were expected to reduce import dependence.
However, existing data suggests that these refineries have yet to reach full production capacity to meet domestic demand.
Over the past five years, Nigeria’s petrol import bill has steadily risen. In 2020, the country spent N2.01trn on fuel imports, more than doubling to N4.56trn in 2021.
By 2022, the figure further increased to N7.71trn before slightly declining to N7.51trn in 2023. However, in 2024, fuel import expenditure surged to an all-time high of N15.42trn, marking the largest petrol import bill in Nigeria’s history.
Despite the commencement of petrol production by three major refineries in Nigeria, oil marketers had continued to import and distribute the product nationwide.
Marketers imported 2.3 billion litres of petrol between September 11 and December 5, 2024.
The continued importation of petrol is contrary to a public announcement by some group of marketers who earlier stated their intention to halt petrol imports and focus on domestic supply.
The local refineries are the 650,000 barrel per day capacity Dangote Petroleum Refinery located in Lagos and the 210,000bpd capacity Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State. PHRC currently produces from its old plant with a capacity of 60,000bpd.
Also, the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company commenced operations in December 2024. PHRC and WRPC are both under the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.