The Nigerian National Petroleum Company has stopped importing refined petroleum products and is now off-taking fuel from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and other local refineries.
NNPC’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, disclosed this on Monday at the ongoing conference of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, which was held in Lagos and themed “Resolving the Nigerian Energy Trilemma: Energy Security, Sustainable Growth and Affordability.”
According to The Punch, this is coming at a time when some petroleum marketers insisted that they would import petroleum products and sell at a price lesser than that of the $20 billion dollar refinery.
In August, President Bola Tinubu said the country spent an average of ₦2 trillion on fuel importation monthly.
According to Tinubu, the launch of compressed natural gas into the country would save the country “over N2tn a month used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and gas education.”
The President’s statement means that the country spends about ₦24 trillion yearly to import petrol and diesel, excluding aviation fuel, kerosene, and gas.
Despite being an oil-producing country, Nigeria has for years imported its fuels due to a lack of local refineries.