The decision by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to halt crude oil supplies to domestic refineries, including the Dangote Refinery, led to a drop in Nigeria’s oil production in March.
A Reuters survey revealed that this reduction in deliveries contributed to a decline in OPEC’s overall oil output for the month.
Nigeria’s oil supply was reported to have declined “due to reduced deliveries to the Dangote refinery, offsetting higher exports.”
Reuters reported that Nigeria is producing slightly above its OPEC quota.
In March, OPEC’s production dropped to 26.63 million barrels per day, a decrease of 110,000 bpd from February.
The survey indicated that Nigeria, Iran, and Venezuela experienced the largest declines, each posting a drop of 50,000 bpd.
It was gathered that the NNPC delayed the delivery of seven cargoes of crude oil allocated to the Dangote refinery last month.
Meanwhile, a report by S&P Global stated that the NNPC delayed the supply due to a failure to reach an agreement on payment terms between both parties.
The cargoes, intended to deliver approximately 245,000 barrels per day in April, amounted to 7.2 million barrels over the 30-day period.
“According to trade sources and Nigerian port authorities, NNPC has allocated seven crude oil cargoes to deliver around 245,000 barrels per day to the Dangote site in April but is yet to agree on payment terms,” the report stated.
It was earlier reported that the NNPC and Dangote have been involved in disputes over payment terms following the apparent termination of the naira-for-crude deal.
In addition to this, it was gathered that the credit facilities previously extended to Dangote were also withdrawn.
