By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Federal Government of Nigeria has agreed to sell crude oil to Dangote and local refineries to boost the Naira.
The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, made this disclosure during a briefing in Abuja on Monday, 15 April, 2024.
According to Komolafe, Nigeria’s total crude oil and condensate reserves increased to 37.5 billion barrels on January 1, 2024, with a life index of 68.01 years.
“The commission, in conjunction with relevant stakeholders from NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services, representatives of Crude Oil/Condensate Producers, Crude Oil Refinery-Owners Association of Nigeria, and Dangote Petroleum Refinery came up with the template for the buy-in of all.
“This is in a bid to foster a seamless implementation of the DCSO and ensure consistent supply of crude oil to domestic refineries.
“The Petroleum Industry Act, PIA intends to make the implementation (of crude oil obligation) easy for producers and refineries.
“So, the answer simply is that the transaction currency would be in Naira or dollar. That is the simple answer.
“But we all know that if the transaction is carried out in Naira, that will free the pressure on the exchange rate.
“That will help the exchange rate. So that is the intent, and besides, the overall intent of the Petroleum Industry Act is to develop our midstream, which is a very laudable provision of the PIA,” he said.
