Refinery owners urge Tinubu to accept naira for crude oil

Members of the Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN) yesterday urged President Bola Tinubu to accept the payment of Naira for their feedstock – crude oil.

Besides, the association asked the government for guaranteed off -take of products and removal of bureaucratic hurdles.

The association also urged the government to use the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to create a window of intervention fund such as was given to Dangote to other modular refinery companies to access financial support to complete their projects.

The requests, which are part of the recommendations that the Executive Chairman, Mr. Momoh Jimah Oyarekhua and Secretary Barrister Olusegun Ilori issued in statement at Abuja yesterday, are “quick wins that will help in the process of getting more local refineries to come on stream.”

CORAN said: “These recommendations will help this administration with the Short Mid and Long Term solutions to the Nigerian Energy challenges.

”A critical necessity at this time is for the CBN to create a window of intervention Fund such as was given to Dangote to other modular refinery companies to access financial support to complete their projects.

"The problem of guaranteed supply of crude to the refineries with Naira payments, guaranteed offtake of the products and removal of bureaucratic bottlenecks from the regulatory bodies are some urgent issues for resolution.

“The present challenge relating to regulatory agencies duplicating licenses and permits and engaged in conflicting directives put operators in a confusing state of affairs.”

The statement was basically on the association’s position on the removal of petrol subsidy, noted that some of these requested policy actions are contained in the white paper of the Committees on Establishment of Modular Refinery Intervention Funding and Technical Committee on Crude Oil Domestic Supply Obligation.