Nigeria's Crude Oil Producers Fail to Meet Domestic Refiners' Demand

Nigeria's crude oil producers have offered 182 million barrels to domestic refiners between January and August, but only 112 million barrels have been transacted, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC). This represents a gap of 70 million barrels.

Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, NUPRC chief executive officer, said producers were concerned about payment security, off-take reliability, and existing export commitments, while refiners were concerned about crude availability, delivery timing, and pricing. The commission is working to improve visibility of refinery demand and producer availability.

To address the issue, the NUPRC is proposing a domestic crude swap arrangement that would allow producers close to export terminals to swap their domestic supply obligations with producers whose crude was closer to local refineries. This mechanism aims to reduce logistics costs and delivery times while improving crude availability and compliance.