The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says the Federal Government is working towards prioritising the exports of refined petroleum products, rather than exporting crude oil.
Rabiu Umar, chief executive officer (CEO) of the NMDPRA, spoke on Monday at the 49th Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE) organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria Council in Lagos.
Umar said the country’s growing refining capacity would enable Nigeria to process more of its crude domestically rather than export the raw commodity. “The fact that today, we have more refining capacity in Nigeria than we’ve ever had. And, of course, with the projects that are on stream and the expansions that we are also going to witness in the coming years, clearly Nigeria is going to turn into a refining hub for Africa,” he said.
“This means that perhaps every single molecule of our three million barrels a day production that we hope to achieve in the next couple of years will actually be refined locally.
“What that means, and I think this is a monumental shift, is a handshake between the upstream, midstream and downstream.
“Effectively, it’s not just exporting the raw crude, but making sure that what we actually end up exporting is the refined petroleum products. And I think this is quite substantial.”
The NMDPRA CEO said his agency is working with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to enforce the domestic crude supply obligation — describing it as critical to supporting the country’s expanding refining industry. “True resilience requires operational and commercial balance. And we remain steadfast in working with our sister agency, the NUPRC, in enforcing the domestic crude supply obligation. And this is really important because if we have enough refining capacity, we don’t have any reason to be exporting crude oil,” he said.
Umar said the shift to domestic refining would allow Nigeria to extract greater value from its petroleum resources through stronger integration of the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. He further highlighted Nigeria’s emergence as a regional refining hub, driven by the growth of both large-scale and modular refineries.