The Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Refinery, David Bird, has opened up about a shortfall in cargo delivery under the Naira-for- crude deal with the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) ltd, saying the refinery receives only five cargos per month out of a pre-agreed 13 to 15.
He made this known in an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday.
Bird clarified that the arrangement is not a subsidy or discounted crude supply scheme.
He explained that the initiative is designed to reduce foreign exchange pressures while supporting domestic refining.
Bird also highlighted operational challenges stemming from crude volume and grade mismatches, calling for greater transparency in allocation to ensure the programme delivers its intended benefits.
Narrating the refinery’s experience under the arrangement, Bird said that crude supplied is sold at full international benchmark prices, with no discounts.
“Yes, we have been very vocal that there is an existing arrangement in place under the Crude-for-Naira programme, commonly misunderstood as a pricing regime. It is not. That is priced at full international benchmark crude oil pricing.
“And our demand of the government is just to be transparent with that allocation methodology and be transparent because what we see under that agreement, we should be getting about 13 to 15 cargos a month.”
“And that’s what we could process to meet the domestic fuel requirements of Nigeria. Currently, we’re only getting five,” Bird said.
According to him, the refinery pays all costs on commercial terms, including benchmark pricing, freight, insurance, and logistics, countering narratives of subsidy or preferential treatment.
The Crude-for-Naira programme was launched by the Federal Government to enable domestic oil transactions in naira rather than dollars.
