President Muhammadu Buhari has taken a step further in the ongoing reforms in the oil industry with the cancellation of offshore processing and crude swap deals for refined products between Nigeria and oil merchants.
The decision of the President Buhari administration to end the controversial oil swap deals was disclosed on Tuesday in Abuja by Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. The deals, initiated in January by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, were designed to supply gasoline for crude as the country depends on imports for the bulk of its domestic consumption.
“Mr. President has approved the cancellation of the oil swap contracts. He has publicly expressed his displeasure over this oil swap deal. The government may not have completely dumped the idea of swaps but the aim is to re-evaluate the whole contracts terminated to extract some favourable terms,” Adesina said in the official statement.
According to the deal, Jonathan government allocated 210,000 barrels per day of crude to swap for products in 2015 as parts of its bid to end the endemic shortage of fuel in Nigeria. President Buhari cancelled contracts for roughly half of the 445,000 barrels per day of crude earmarked for Nigeria’s refineries, the amount refiners’ use in the products swaps deals.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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