THE Nigerian government said the commencement of crude oil sale to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira took effect on October 1.

The minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun, confirmed this on Saturday, October 5.

He said, “In line with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) directive, the sale of crude oil and refined petroleum products in naira has officially commenced as of October 1, 2024.”

According to Edun, the commencement of the initiative was affirmed by key stakeholders, following a meeting of the implementation committee held on October 3 to conduct a post-commencement review of the crude oil and refined products sales in the naira initiative.

Since the start of October, officials at the Dangote Refinery, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Federal Ministry of Finance, and Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) were reported to have been mum on updates on the naira-for-crude deal between the NNPCL and Dangote Refinery.

A senior official with a domestic refinery was reported to have said that crude oil refiners including Dangote were still awaiting the Federal Government for the supply of crude in naira, the Punch reported on Friday, October 4.

Uncertainty over the naira-for-crude policy as the Federal Government has yet to release guidelines has also raised concerns, The ICIR reports.

Further concern also borders on whether the crude will be sold at a discounted rate as it is the normal practice when selling crude to international traders, the publicity secretary of the Crude Oil Refinery-owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), Eche Idoko, said.

He opined that giving discounts would guarantee a reduction in petroleum product price, stressing that Nigerians were eager to know the potential petrol price if Dangote Refinery procured crude oil from the NNPCL.

Idoko had noted there were uncertainties around the regime of supplies, sales, and pricing of petrol, the reason the domestic refineries had not started getting crude in naira, The ICIR reported.

President Bola Tinubu had on July 29, directed the NNPCL to sell crude to Dangote Refinery and other upcoming refineries in naira, following the intricacies that had greeted the supply of crude oil to local refineries.

In August, the minister of finance announced that crude oil sales to the Dangote Refinery in naira would begin on October 1.

The arrangement is for the NNPCL to supply Dangote Refinery with 12 million barrels in October, averaging about 390,000 barrels daily.

In turn, Dangote is to sell refined petrol in naira to the NNPCL – the current sole off-taker.

According to Edun, the meeting on Thursday was attended by the minister of state, petroleum (Oil), the special adviser to the president on revenue, the special adviser to the President on Energy, the chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the representative of the chairman and vice president of Dangote Group, and the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), led by the group chief executive officer (GCEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and executive vice president (Downstream).