The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited says it has not stopped the importation of petroleum products into the country.
NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday. Soneye said the state-owned petroleum company would still source for products from outside the country when there is a need for that.
Soneye confirmed that the Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, said at the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists conference that the company is not importing fuel anymore but taking from local refineries.
While saying Kyari’s statement was correctly quoted in the news report, Soneye said the GCEO, who spoke extempore for several minutes, was misinterpreted.
He said, “The GCEO’s statement, ’Today, NNPC does not import any product; we are only taking from domestic refineries’, should not be construed to imply that NNPC Ltd is obligated to be the sole off-taker of any refinery or that we will no longer import fuel.
“While NNPC prioritises sourcing products from domestic refineries, this is contingent upon economic viability. If local supply is cost-effective, it will be preferred, but the same principle applies to other marketers, who will also evaluate total costs when deciding whether to buy locally or import.”
