The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, or NNPC, declared on Monday that it had finally stopped the long-standing practice of heavily importing petroleum products after years of doing so.

This follows an earlier announcement by IPMAN, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, that it would buy goods directly from the $20 billion Dangote facility.

This statement was made in Lagos by NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer Mele Kyari, who gave the keynote speech at the 42nd annual international conference and exhibition of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, or NAPE.

As a proud co-owner of the Dangote Refinery, Kyari highlighted NNPC’s role in navigating the obstacles of a contracting crude oil market. The firm acknowledged the $20 billion refinery as a significant market for at least 300,000 barrels per day of its production.

People have options, and oil may be discovered in a lot of unexpected places worldwide. Consequently, we recognised a chance to supply not only Dangote but all refineries in the nation.

Therefore, it’s a wise business choice. As a result, we were aware from the beginning that providing crude oil to domestic refineries would benefit us.

Therefore, persuasion is not necessary. We don’t require communication from others. We don’t need the streets to put any pressure on us to achieve this. Kyari said, “We are already doing this.”

In keeping with the company’s pledge to promote local processing of all crude produced in Nigeria, he also disclosed that NNPC had stopped importing refined petroleum products.

“Therefore, I firmly believe that we must process all of the crude that we produce in the country up to the optimum level,” Kyari said. And we’ll use every effort to ensure that this gets domesticated. Additionally, NNPC does not import any goods at this time. We are using the domestic refinery exclusively.

He said that because all feedstock supplies are sourced from the domestic market, the company is working with the federal government to address pricing difficulties.

Kyari also emphasised the consequences of the pressure on Nigerian oil producers to provide crude in naira and to local refineries.

Nigerian crude is a premium variety that fetches a premium price, he said.

He clarified that refiners purchase Nigerian oil to mix with their heavier crudes for processing on the international market.

He went on to say that because Nigerian oil is so expensive and premium, very few refineries are prepared to process it directly.

Additionally, Kyari referred to rumours that the NNPC is unwilling to sell crude to domestic refineries in naira as sabotage and rejected them.

He emphasised that whenever they resume production, the other oil producers must send crude to the four NNPC refineries, reminding them that they are also subject to the domestic crude oil requirement.

Selling crude to local refineries in naira, Kyari explained, does not mean that the product’s value is diminished; rather, it merely closes the foreign exchange deficit, strengthening the local currency and bolstering the nation’s economy.

He also disclosed that NNPC has successfully paid off $2.4 billion in outstanding cash-call debt to International Oil Companies that operate in Nigeria.

He affirmed that the business is now debt-free, emphasising that this noteworthy accomplishment was made possible by the total elimination of all subsidies.