Yahoo TV

STORY: Nigerian oil refineries have significantly raised their domestic crude requirements for the second half of the year, the national regulator has said.

:: July 20, 2024

And that's despite tight domestic supply.

The refineries, including Africa's biggest, the Dangote Refinery, are seeking 597,700 barrels per day.

That's up from 483,000 bpd in the first half of the year.

But here's the rub - the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, or NUPRC, said in a statement on Friday (August 9) that it had only managed to secure 177,777 bpd in the first six months of 2024.

That's way below what the refineries had asked for.

The refineries' rising crude requirements and oil producers' struggle to meet demand has put the Dangote Refinery in particular at odds with the regulator.

It has accused NUPRC of failing to enforce a law that requires oil producers to supply domestic refiners.

In a statement on Friday, the refinery, built by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, said that lax enforcement was raising its operational costs.

The 650,000 bpd facility says it is having to increase crude imports due to insufficient domestic supplies - and that this could impact its ambitions this year and its long-term prospects.

The NUPRC said some oil producers had operational challenges while others had pledged most of their output to traders who had financed drilling.

It also said forcing producers to raise supply would violate their contracts.