The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says crude oil producers offered 182 million barrels of crude to domestic refiners between January and August, with 112 million barrels already transacted.
The 112 million barrels represent 61.4 percent of the crude offered, leaving a gap of 70 million barrels between the volume offered by producers and completed transactions with domestic refiners.
The NUPRC Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, disclosed this on Monday at the third Nigeria Oil Refining Summit in Lagos.
Eyesan, who was represented by the Deputy Director, NUPRC, Mr Boma Atiyegoba, said producers offered 182 million barrels against domestic refiners’ declared requirement of 154.6 million barrels during the period.
She said the volume offered represented 118 percent of the refiners’ declared requirement, indicating that the quantity offered exceeded the volume declared as required by refiners.
However, Eyesan said the gap between crude offers and completed transactions did not indicate a failure by either producers or refiners.
“This gap is not a failure on either side. It is a shared commercial challenge,” she said.
According to her, the incomplete transactions were linked to several commercial and operational issues, including pricing, payment security, crude grade and delivery timelines.
She said producers were concerned about payment security, off-take reliability and existing export commitments, while refiners were concerned about crude availability, delivery schedules and pricing.
“The Commission is listening, and we are active,” she said.
Eyesan said the NUPRC would improve the visibility of refinery demand and producer availability while strengthening monitoring and compliance mechanisms.
She added that the commission would deepen engagement with stakeholders and enforce domestic supply obligations where necessary to ensure that local refineries have access to adequate crude supplies.
The NUPRC chief executive also disclosed that the commission had concluded stakeholder consultations on a proposed domestic crude swap arrangement.
“Under the arrangement, producers close to export terminals could swap their domestic supply obligations with producers whose crude was closer to local refineries,” she said.
According to Eyesan, the proposed mechanism would help reduce logistics costs and delivery times while improving crude availability and compliance with domestic supply obligations.
She said the commission was also accelerating field development and efforts to restore shut-in wells and marginal assets to increase crude production.
Eyesan stressed that higher production was critical as domestic refineries expanded their capacity and demand for crude continued to rise.
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“Domestic refining cannot thrive by distributing a shrinking cake. It must be fed by a growing one,” she said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group, Mr Adegbite Falade, said Nigeria must increase crude production to sustain its growing domestic refining capacity.
“Nigeria cannot refine barrels that are not produced,” Falade said.
Falade said the solution to rising domestic refining demand was to increase crude production rather than redistribute limited supplies among existing refineries.
He also called for stronger crude evacuation infrastructure and the development of a transparent and investable domestic crude market.
The Domestic Crude Supply Obligation operates under Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act and is based on willing-buyer, willing-seller arrangements.
The NUPRC maintains that sustaining domestic refining requires both improved crude transactions and continued growth in upstream production, particularly as more refineries come on stream and existing facilities expand their operations.
