President Bola Tinubu has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limitedto sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other emerging refineries in Naira.
The announcement was made by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Publicity, via his official X handle on Monday.
Onanuga revealed that the decision, endorsed by the Federal Executive Council today, aims to stabilize both the pump price of refined fuel and the dollar-Naira exchange rate.
According to PUNCH Online, Dangote Refinery currently requires 15 cargoes of crude oil annually, costing approximately $13.5 billion. NNPC has committed to supplying four of these cargoes.
In a strategic shift, the FEC has approved that 450,000 barrels allocated for domestic use be sold in Naira to Nigerian refineries, with Dangote Refinery as the initial pilot. This measure is intended to fix the exchange rate for these transactions and will be facilitated by Afreximbank and other settlement banks in Nigeria.
The new arrangement is expected to streamline the process by eliminating the need for international letters of credit, thus reducing the country’s dollar payments and potentially enhancing economic stability.
