Lagos, Nov. 12, 2024 – Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), says Nigeria will save $10 billion annually by stopping importation of refined petrol.
Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive said this in Lagos at the 42nd Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE).
He said the NNPC had stopped importing refined petroleum products in line with its new policy to support local refineries.
Kyari said the decision would save the country about $10 billion annually.
He said the NNPC was now buying refined petrol from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.
Kyari said the NNPC was one of the investors in the Dangote Refinery, which he described as a well-informed business decision.
” Therefore, from day one, we knew that it was to our benefit to supply crude oil to domestic refineries.
“So, we don’t need to be persuaded. We don’t need anyone to talk to us. There is no need for any pressure from the streets for us to do this. We are already doing this”, Kyari stated.
Kyari described the Nigerian crude as a premium type of crude that attracts premium price, adding that some refiners buy Nigerian crude to blend with their dirtier crude to process.
He said that only few refineries were taking Nigerian crude for direct processing because of its expensive and high premium nature.
He said the company was also working with the federal government to manage the issue of pricing of petrol which had been a major challenge of sourcing all feedstock supply from the domestic market.
He, however, said substantial progress had been achieved around it and would no longer be an issue.
The NNPC boss denied earlier reports that the company did not want to sell crude to domestic refineries in naira.
“As a matter of fact, it makes no difference to us because if you sell crude to domestic refinery in naira and you buy product in naira from a domestic refinery, it’s a netzero game. You lose nothing. Otherwise, whatever you do, you still have to source for FX because you have to import,” he said.
The NNPC boss said at least 12 mother CNG stations would he been built in the country by the first quarter of 2025.
He also said the NNPC was building a mini–Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in the country to deliver gas to the local market.
This, he said, would help to sustain the growth of CNG delivery to the domestic market and equally make gas available to mid power plants and gas-based industries in the short term. (GBN)
