At least 48 people have been killed in Nigeria following a fuel tanker truck explosion, the state's disaster management agency has reported on Monday, noting that the fuel transport collided with a truck carrying travelers and cattle in the country's north-central region overnight.
Back in July, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) reached an agreement with oil producers to supply crude oil to domestic refineries at market prices, ending a supply dispute that had strained relations with international oil companies. Nigeria imports most of its fuel needs due to inadequate refining capacity, although a 650,000 barrel-a-day refinery built by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, and operational since February, should produce more than enough for the country's needs. Earlier, Dangote Refinery complained that oil majors were hindering local crude purchases by demanding excessive premiums or saying they had no available supplies.
NUPRC said in a statement it could not allow pricing to impede domestic refining, "We will never allow price strangulation to disincentivize our domestic refining capacity optimization."
The oil and gas multinational divestment from the Niger Delta that kicked off over a decade has intensified in recent years. Numerous oil and gas majors have exited the Nigerian market over the past few years despite Africa's largest economy opening its doors for wider exploration courtesy of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Last year, Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) finalized the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC) to local firm, Chappal Energy. The sale brought to a close the company's three-decade-long partnership with Africa's largest oil producer, during which Equinor pumped more than a billion barrels of crude from the Agbami Field. Prior to that, Chinese company Addax sold its four oil blocks to Nigerian state oil company, NNPC while Italian energy multinational Eni S.p.A. (NYSE:E) announced plans to sell its onshore operations to local entity Oando.
By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
Alex Kimani is a veteran finance writer, investor, engineer and researcher for Safehaven.com. More