Naira crude sales not working, says Dangote refinery

Vice-President of Dangote Industries Limited, Edwin Devakumar, has disclosed that the Federal Government’s initiative to sell crude in the local currency is not working, revealing that the facility can’t secure sufficient domestic supplies from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

Edwin Devakumar, vice-president of Dangote Industries Limited, spoke to Reuters on Friday.

“We need 650,000 barrels per day. The state oil firm, NNPC Limited agreed to give a minimum of 385,000 bpd but they are not even delivering that,” Devakumar said.

He said the deliveries from the NNPC) Limited under the scheme are ‘peanuts.’

However, Mathins Obaze, an acting executive director of the Crude Oil Refinery-owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), said only Dangote refinery has benefited from the naira-crude sales arrangement out of the eight refineries in operation.

“Members are still unable to access crude in naira and are currently engaging the government for a resolution,” Obaze said.

Nigeria officially commenced the sale of crude oil to refineries in naira on October 1, forcing Dangote refinery to focus on local supply.

The refinery received four cargoes of crude oil from the NNPC under the naira-for-crude sale agreement recently, but it still looks to the US for crude.