16th July, 2019
The NNPC has reportedly issued award letters for highly sought-after contracts to exchange crude oil for imported fuel, with some Nigerian oil firms beneficiaries.
A total of 15 groupings, with at least 34 companies in total, received award letters, Reuters reported.
On the list are MRS, Oando, Sahara, BP, and the usual suspects Vitol and Trafigura. BP and Trafigura are paired with Nigerian firms, AYM Shafa and AA Rano. AYM Shafa is owned by Yakubu A. Maishanu and AA Rano by Alh. Auwalu Abdullahi Rano.
The NNPC has not made any official confirmation.
Reuters said the award letters were circulated on Monday. While the contracts have not yet been signed, that is largely a formality as the terms have been negotiated, the sources said, and the list of companies is unlikely to change.
The number of winners is an expansion on the previous list, which had 10 pairings with a total of 22 companies. Oil companies work hard to get on the list, which gives them coveted, and potentially lucrative, access to Nigeria’s crude oil cargoes.
NNPC extended the previous contracts at least twice as the nation focused on elections in February this year.
The swap deals have supplied virtually all of Nigeria’s gasoline for the past two years, as capped prices mean that other would-be importers cannot make money bringing the fuel into the country.
Nigeria consumes close to 40 million litres per day of petrol and is easily the largest fuel market in West Africa.
While NNPC has refineries with a combined nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels per day, decades without regular maintenance or investment leaves the nation almost wholly reliant on imports.
The following is a list of the winning groups:
1: BP/Aym Shafa
2: Vitol/Varo
3: Trafigura/AA Rano
4: MRS
5: Oando/Cepsa
6: Bono/Akleen/Amazon/Eterna
7: Eyrie/Masters/Cassiva/Asean Group
8: Mercuria/Barbedos/Petrogas/Rainoil
9: UTM/Levene/Matrix/Petra Atlantic
10: TOTSA
11: Duke Oil
12: Sahara
13: Gunvor/Maikifi
14: Litasco /Brittania-U
15: Mocoh/Mocoh Nigeria