The Publicity Secretary of the Crude Oil Refinery-owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), Mr. Eche Idoko has averred that his group is currently waiting for inclusion in the presidential committee already discussing with Dangote on supply of crude oil in Naira.
He said: “The committee is only discussing with Dangote at the moment”.
According to him, the committee, at its inaugural meeting, said it would start the Naira sale of crude with refineries producing petrol, noting that at the moment; only the Dangote refinery is producing the commodity.
He said the association made a case that the committee should extend the sale to other refineries to avoid discrimination, “but they haven’t given us any feedback”.
Idoko further said: “Perhaps, during the October date, they will disclose more in terms of the modus they want to adopt. But at the moment, we have not received any clear communications as to how the Naira sale will be administered other than the fact that they said they will start with PMS-producing refineries”.
The CORAN spokesman disclosed that many of the modular refineries have been facing serious crude challenges, preventing them from producing fuel.
He noted that some refineries with 10,000 capacity currently produce a little above 3,000 barrels per day due to the unavailability of crude oil.
He said: “A 6,000-capacity refinery now produces 1,000 barrels, but productions are off and on because of erratic crude supply”, he said.
“Our modular refineries are facing a serious crude crisis. Nothing has changed for modular refineries. There are talks with the government but there hasn’t been any definite arrangement for supplies”.
Since it commenced the sale of petroleum on 15 September, Dangote Refinery is yet to announce the price of the product.
