Nigeria urged to scale up domestic crude oil refining

Nigeria has been advised to look at scaling up domestic crude oil refining and energy sovereignty as key to providing energy efficiency and boosting economic growth.

According to the Dr Muda Yusuf of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), the country should take strong regulatory measures to reduce dependence on imported petroleum products and increase support to domestic refining.

Yusuf, who is the Chief Executive Officer of CPPE (CEO), emphasised the need for strong and deliberate support for domestic refining as an immediate and non-negotiable priority while assessing the downstream segment of the oil and gas sector.

He said government policy should clearly favour locally refined petroleum products through targeted fiscal, regulatory and infrastructural support for both public and private refineries, while actively encouraging new investments in refining.

He urged the need to stop the current distortion in the system where imported petroleum products are made to compete with the locally refined products.

“Nigeria must end the current distortion whereby imported petroleum products are made to compete with locally refined products under unequal regulatory and fiscal conditions.

“This does not constitute fair competition.

“Genuine competition only exists, when all operators function within the same policy, tax and regulatory environment,” he said.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for the recent reset of Nigeria’s petroleum regulatory architecture through the appointment of new Chief Executive Officers for the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

Yusuf urged the NMDPRA to place domestic refining at the centre of its policy framework, in line with the president’s Nigeria-First policy direction and industrialisation agenda.

“A strong domestic refining base is fundamental to building a resilient, energy-secure and sovereign economy. It is also critical for job creation, foreign exchange conservation, macroeconomic stability and the development of export-oriented refining capacity,” he said.

“Domestic refining is a major pathway to backward integration and resource-based industrialisation.”

“Supporting refineries strengthens Nigeria’s petrochemical, fertiliser and allied industries, thereby creating broader industrial value chains that drive inclusive growth.

“Ensuring compliance with domestic crude supply obligations to domestic refineries must be a priority,” Yusuf said.

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