By OLUSEGUN ARIBIKE

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says crude oil producers offered 182 million barrels to domestic refiners between January and August, with 112 million barrels already transacted.

The 112 million barrels represent 61.4 per cent of the crude offered, leaving a gap of 70 million barrels between offers and completed transactions.

Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, NUPRC Chief Executive Officer, disclosed this at the third Nigeria Oil Refining Summit on Monday in Lagos.

Eyesan, represented by Mr Boma Atiyegoba, Deputy Director, NUPRC, said producers offered 182 million barrels against domestic refiners’ declared requirement of 154.6 million barrels during the period.

She said the volume offered was 118 per cent of the refiners’ declared requirement.

According to her, the gap between crude offers and completed transactions does not indicate a failure by either producers or refiners.

“This gap is not a failure on either side. It is a shared commercial challenge,” she said.

Eyesan attributed the incomplete transactions to issues including pricing, payment security, crude grade and delivery timing.

She said producers were concerned about payment security, off-take reliability and existing export commitments, while refiners were concerned about crude availability, delivery timing and pricing.

“The Commission is listening, and we are active,” she said.

Eyesan said NUPRC would improve visibility of refinery demand and producer availability, while strengthening monitoring and compliance.

She said the commission would also deepen engagement with stakeholders and enforce domestic supply obligations where necessary.

The NUPRC chief executive said the commission had completed stakeholder consultations on a proposed domestic crude swap arrangement.

“Under the arrangement, producers close to export terminals could swap their domestic supply obligations with producers whose crude was closer to local refineries.”

She said the mechanism would reduce logistics costs and delivery times, while improving crude availability and compliance.

Eyesan said NUPRC was also accelerating field development and efforts to restore shut-in wells and marginal assets.

She stressed that increased production was critical as domestic refineries expanded their capacity and demand for crude increased.

“Domestic refining cannot thrive by distributing a shrinking cake. It must be fed by a growing one,” Eyesan said.

Earlier, Mr Adegbite Falade, Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group, said Nigeria must increase crude production to sustain its growing domestic refining capacity.

“Nigeria cannot refine barrels that are not produced,” Falade said.

He said the solution to rising domestic refining demand was to increase crude production rather than redistribute limited supplies.

Falade also called for stronger evacuation infrastructure and a transparent, investable domestic crude market.

NAN recalls that “The Domestic Crude Supply Obligation” operates under Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act and is based on willing-buyer, willing-seller arrangements.

The commission maintains that sustaining domestic refining requires both improved crude transactions and continued growth in upstream production. (NAN)