Oil refineries have significantly raised their domestic crude requirements for
the second half of the year. The National regulator
has said and that's despite tight domestic supply, the
refineries including Africa's biggest, the Dangote refinery are seeking
597,700 barrels per day. That's up from 483,000 BPD
in the first half of the year. But here's
the rub. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission,
NRC said in a statement on Friday that it had
only managed to secure 177,777 BPD in the first six
months of 2024. That's way below what the refineries
had asked for. The refinery's rising crude requirements and
oil producers struggle to meet demand has put the Dangote
refinery in particular at odds with the regulator. It
has accused a new PRC of failing to enforce a
law that requires oil producers to supply domestic Refiners.
In a statement on Friday, the refinery built by
Africa's richest man. Aliko Dangote said that lax enforcement
was raising its operational costs. The 650,000 BPD facility
says it is having to increase crude imports due to
insufficient domestic supplies and that this could impact its ambitions
this year and its long term prospects. The NRC
said some oil producers had operational challenges while others had
pledged most of their outputs to traders who had financed
drilling. It also said forcing producers to raise supply
would violate their contracts.