Dec. 29, 2023

Nigerian oil producers will be required to supply 483,000 barrels per day (bpd) to local refineries in the first six months of 2024, new regulations showed on Friday, as Africa’s largest oil exporter seeks to guarantee supplies for local refining.

The Dangote oil refinery and at least three government-run refineries are among local refineries that are expected to begin operations in 2024.

The 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote refinery will receive the biggest volume of 325,000 bpd, according to newly published Domestic Crude Supply Obligation guidelines from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

NUPRC data showed that six refineries were expected to be operational from 2024, with total refining capacity of 864,500 bpd, meaning that oil producers would be required to supply just over half of the crude requirements.

A Petroleum Industry Act passed in 2021 introduced a requirement for oil producers in Nigeria to supply part of their crude to domestic refineries so they are not starved of crude supplies, but this has yet to be enforced.

NUPRC said the refineries would pay global market prices for the crude.

A total of 48 oil producers, including majors TotalEnergies, Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil will participate in the programme, and production is to come mostly from their joint venture operations with Nigerian state oil firm, the NNPC Ltd participates.

Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive of NUPRC, told Reuters that the regulator was now enforcing the regulations as Nigeria seeks to start refining its oil.

Nigeria has said it plans to produce 1.8 million bpd of oil next year, above its OPEC quota of 1.5 million bpd.

REUTERS