The Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria, CORAN, has urged the Federal Government to consider implementing a total ban on petroleum product imports to rescue local refineries and reposition Nigeria as Africa's refining hub. This was stated by CORAN's President, Momoh Oyarekhua, at the 3rd Nigeria Oil Refining Summit held in Lagos on Monday. He emphasized the need for a progressive ban on imports to support local refineries.
Oyarekhua also suggested a fresh domestic crude pricing template that recognizes crude quality, delivery point, avoided international logistics costs, and actual domestic evacuation expenses. This, he believes, will make supply to local refiners fair and commercially viable. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of robust enforcement of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation under Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act.
To ensure a steady supply of crude to local refineries, Oyarekhua proposed crude swaps and nearness-based supply arrangements. This would enable crude-producing assets located close to domestic refineries to supply those facilities directly without unnecessary transportation through distant export infrastructure. He also advised the government to float a Refinery Development Financing Framework to provide long-tenor financing, guarantees, and refinancing mechanisms for new refinery construction and capacity expansion.
The framework, according to Oyarekhua, should be matched by the development of shared petroleum-product infrastructure, including pipelines, depots, storage terminals, jetties, rail evacuation, and other common-carrier facilities. This would reduce costs and improve distribution. He also hinted at the need for strategic petroleum-product reserves to cushion temporary refinery shutdowns, maintenance periods, and international supply disruptions.
Additionally, Oyarekhua demanded regulatory and fiscal incentives for refinery expansion, particularly investment in conversion units capable of increasing domestic production of Premium Motor Spirit, aviation fuel, cooking gas, and other essential products. He also called for a clear domestic refining roadmap that establishes national targets for refining capacity, domestic market share, petroleum-product imports, and eventual export capacity.
In his address, the Chairman of Independent Petroleum Producers Group, Adegbite Falade, noted that Nigeria can reliably feed its refineries if it increases production, protects evacuation infrastructure, matches crude grades to refinery configurations, and creates a domestic crude market with competitive, transparent, and investable commercial terms. He emphasized the need to grow the production base, as Nigeria cannot refine barrels that are not produced.
Falade outlined four clear priorities, including growing the production base, protecting and modernizing evacuation infrastructure, and creating a domestic crude market. He stressed that the collective responsibility is to ensure that statutory policy continues to convert into commercial reality. Achieving this requires collaboration among producers, regulators, refiners, marketers, financiers, host communities, and the media to build a more competitive and sustainable refining sector that serves Nigeria's long-term interest.
Key points
- CORAN urges FG to implement Naira-for-Crude policy and ban petroleum product imports.
- A new domestic crude pricing template is needed to make supply to local refiners fair and commercially viable.
- Nigeria needs a clear domestic refining roadmap to establish national targets for refining capacity and petroleum-product imports.
