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The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has claimed that oil-producing companies have been diverting around 500,000 barrels of crude oil daily, originally intended for domestic refineries, to international markets.
This allegation was made in a statement by PETROAN’s Publicity Secretary, Joseph Obele, who commended the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) for its recent decision to prohibit the export of crude allocated for local refining.
Obele highlighted that this ban could significantly boost domestic refining capacity, as the diversion of crude oil has long hindered the operations of local refineries.
He described the practice as part of a larger scheme where producers and traders prioritize foreign exchange gains over supporting Nigeria’s refining sector.