**NNPCL Exchanged N2.6 Trillion Worth of Crude Oil for Refined Products in 2021**

By Daniel Edu

A recent report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has unveiled that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) conducted crude oil exchanges valued at N2.6 trillion for refined petroleum products in the year 2021.

According to data from the 2021 Oil and Gas Report by NEITI, the total oil sales receipts during this period amounted to N2.23 trillion. The report further disclosed that NNPCL lifted and exported a total of 24.84 million barrels of crude oil, which had a value of $1.70 billion on behalf of the Federation in 2021.

Out of this amount, $1.58 billion was accounted for in respective bank accounts as the actual sales receipt for the year. Of this figure, $1.55 billion represents the sales receipts for 2021, while $24.32 million pertains to the settlement of prior-year receivables.

This exchange occurred within the framework of the Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) program, initiated in 2016. The program allows selected overseas refiners, trading companies, and indigenous firms to receive crude supplies in return for delivering an equivalent value of petrol and other refined products to the NNPCL.

The NEITI report also highlighted that NNPCL did not supply any crude oil to Nigeria’s refineries in the review period, primarily due to their non-operational status at that time.

According to NEITI, “NNPC allocated a total of 98.92 million barrels of crude oil valued at $7.11 billion (N2.73 trillion) for the local market in 2021. However, no crude was delivered to any of the local refineries in 2021. Instead, NNPC used 95.25 percent of this crude for crude exchange for products at the international market under the DSDP arrangement, while 4.75 percent was sold at the international market. This may be due to the fact that none of the refineries were operational in 2021.”

Responding to the report, the National Public Relations Officer of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chief Chinedu Ukadike, emphasized the need for the federal government to revamp the nation’s refineries to reduce reliance on crude oil exchanges and imports.

Ukadike stated, “We are going to continue advocating the revamp of our refineries. If our refineries are functioning, the crash of the naira against the dollar would reduce because the demand pressure for dollars by marketers will drop. Similarly, we will not need this DSDP thing because we will be refining our products here in Nigeria, not exchanging our crude with anybody or company overseas.”

He also called for increased support for modular refineries, suggesting that they could help reduce dependence on imported petroleum products.