Newscenter Media News The federal government has reached an agreement with oil producers to permit the sale of crude oil to domestic refiners at prevailing market prices.
This deal, brokered on Thursday through the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) brings to an end a supply dispute that has strained relations with international oil companies (IOCs).
The producers under the aegis of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce Industry (LCCI) at the instance of the NUPRC agreed to concede to a framework that would be mutually beneficial with a focus on ensuring that the local refineries are not strangulated with off-the-curve prices.
The meeting was part of efforts to effectively implement key sections of the Petroleum Industry Act, especially pricing and crude supply to the domestic refineries.
Komolafe while speaking at the event said President Bola Tinubu is fully committed to providing a level playing ground for producers and refiners to do business in the industry.
He said there was need to have a rule of engagement to ensure that the pricing model from the oil producers is not seen to be strangulating the domestic refineries.
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He directed producers and refiners to henceforth provide the regulator with cargo price quote on crude supply and delivery to effectively monitor and regulate transactions among parties.
“We need to have the price quotes on a monthly basis” he directed.
The Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation (DCOSO) has a convergence with the nation’s energy security. The NURPC boss said his administration is re-engineering its regulatory processes.
“We allow all our processes to be transparent. While the Federal Government targets implementation of the regulation, all parties must concede to the rules of engagement as a guide for operation,” he said.
“We need to discuss pricing especially as parties have committed to respecting their domestic crude oil obligation. For us as the regulator, we don’t want the upstream sector to be operated sub-optimally through cost under-recovery.
“So, the regulator is very alive to that. In crude pricing, we will never allow price strangulation to dis-incentivize our domestic refining capacity optimization. The regulator does not support cost under-recovery in the upstream sector, and we will continue to work to ensure that crude supply profiteering as a negative factor that can strangulate our domestic refining capacity optimization is disallowed.”
Komolafe further stated that the NUPRC is truly committed to attraction of needed investments to boost upstream development and optimization of the hydrocarbon resources in the country.
By Babajide Okeowo
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