The Crude Oil Refiners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) has raised alarm over what it called the continued exclusion of modular and smaller local refineries from the Federal Government’s ongoing discussions on the naira-for-crude oil deal. The group said only the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is being carried along, leaving out other indigenous operators who are key to Nigeria’s domestic refining goals.
The Publicity Secretary of CORAN, Eche Idoko, made this known in an interview, stating clearly that contrary to claims made by a technical committee under the Ministry of Finance, no member of the association attended the latest meeting on the naira-for-crude deal. He said the claims that local refiners were part of the meeting were false and misleading.
The recent meeting, according to the Finance Ministry’s statement signed by Mohammed Manga, its Director of Information and Public Relations, brought together stakeholders like the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, Olu Verheijen, top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and regulatory agencies such as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
The statement also mentioned that local refining operators were part of the meeting and supported the drive to strengthen the naira by selling crude oil in the local currency to domestic refineries. However, CORAN said this is not true for its members, many of whom run active modular refineries across the country.
Idoko pointed out that companies like OPAC, Edo Refinery, Walter Smith, Aradel, Duport, and several new modular refineries expected to begin operations later this year were not invited to the meeting. He accused the committee of focusing solely on Dangote Refinery and ignoring the others, despite earlier government promises to include all functional local refineries in the second phase of the deal.
“We didn’t get any wind about that meeting,” Idoko said. “The report that local refiners were present is misleading. It’s only Dangote that was represented.”
He called on the committee and the Federal Government to be fair and include all stakeholders, especially the indigenous modular refineries that have invested heavily in boosting local refining capacity.
The naira-for-crude initiative was introduced by the Federal Government on October 1, 2024, to ensure that domestic refineries can buy crude oil in naira at fixed rates. The idea was to support local refining, save foreign exchange on fuel imports, and bring down the cost of petroleum products for Nigerian consumers.
During the pilot phase, which ran until March 2025, only the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery participated in the scheme. The government had promised that other modular refineries would be included in the next phase, but so far, that promise has not been fulfilled.
In March, it was said that NNPC had halted the deal, saying it had already forward-sold all its crude oil until 2030. A few days later, the Dangote Refinery also suspended the sale of products in naira. But by April 9, the Federal Government announced that the deal would continue, giving hope to other refineries expecting to benefit.
Idoko noted that this latest meeting was the first one since the government restarted the initiative and that the exclusion of other modular refineries was a bad sign. He urged the committee to expand the scope of engagement so that more local operators can benefit.
“We want to appeal to the government and the committee to expand their reach. Refineries like OPAC, Edo, Aradel, and Duport have invested in this sector and are ready to operate at scale. Including them will help meet the policy goals faster,” he added.
Efforts to get a response from the Ministry of Finance were unsuccessful as the Director of Press did not respond to inquiries before this report was filed. However, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has assured that more updates will be provided on the policy soon.
