CORAN Seeks Presidential Intervention to Revamp Nigeria's Domestic Refining Sector
The Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) has called for urgent presidential intervention to address the structural challenges facing the country's domestic refining industry. In a position paper, CORAN urged the Federal Government to convene a Presidential Refining Industry Roundtable involving key stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, financial institutions, and relevant government agencies.
The association drew lessons from a recent engagement between US President Donald Trump and leading refinery executives at the White House on September 1, 2026. American refineries were operating at approximately 98% utilisation, processing about 17.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, yet the government still considered it necessary to engage with operators after gasoline prices exceeded $4 per gallon.
Nigeria faces even more significant structural challenges, including foreign exchange pressures, high borrowing costs, limited access to long-term financing, crude feedstock constraints, inadequate infrastructure, and high logistics costs. CORAN stressed that domestic refineries still face difficulties accessing Nigerian crude on commercially workable terms, despite the country's crude oil production capacity.