The Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) has clarified that the recently initiated Naira-for-crude deal is currently restricted to Dangote Refinery.
This decision stems from the limited quantity of crude oil available to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Nigerian Government.
Eche Idoko, CORAN's spokesperson, explained in an interview that "the reason is simple, they said because of the quantity of crude oil the government has at its disposal, they will want to start with the only refinery producing PMS and in this case, the only CORAN member is Dangote Refinery."
The Federal Government announced the commencement of this exclusive deal, through the NNPCL, as confirmed by Zacch Adedeji, Chairman of the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-for-crude sale. However, official confirmations from the Dangote Group and NNPCL are still pending.
Dangote Refinery, which has been grappling with high petrol costs due to importation expenses, anticipates a reduction in fuel prices with the implementation of the Naira-for-crude deal.
The refinery had previously justified its petrol pricing, stating that it bought petrol at N898 per liter upon lifting on September 15, 2024. Following this, NNPCL announced a fresh hike in petrol prices across its retail outlets, ranging between N950 and N1,100 per liter from about N617.
Petroleum marketers and refiners are optimistic that this exclusive arrangement will lead to a significant drop in fuel pump prices.
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