The Federal Government has assured the Dangote Petroleum Refinery that it will receive adequate foreign exchange to pay for crude oil purchases after selling refined petroleum products in naira, in a move aimed at easing the refinery's growing forex burden and sustaining domestic fuel supply.
The assurance, which was reportedly given during discussions held on Friday, comes as the implementation of the naira-for-crude initiative continues to face significant supply challenges. Industry sources said the arrangement would allow the government to provide US dollars equivalent to the refinery's naira proceeds from petrol sales, enabling the company to meet its crude payment obligations to both local and international suppliers.
A senior official of the refinery, who spoke to Punch news on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said the refinery had previously suspended naira-denominated petrol sales because it could no longer sustain purchasing crude oil in dollars while receiving payments from marketers in the local currency.
"As you know, we had earlier stopped selling in naira as we were not getting the dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria for the products we sold for naira, even though we had paid in US dollars for the crude. Now, we have been assured that we will be given the dollars.
"The Federal Government has to give dollars to the extent we are selling the products in naira after paying for the crude in dollars. That's the law."
The source explained that the refinery's foreign exchange exposure has risen sharply as crude oil purchases from international suppliers and even the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited are largely denominated in US dollars, while domestic fuel sales are settled in naira.
Questioning how the refinery could continue financing crude imports under such conditions, the official said:
"From where will we get the money to import the crude? The Americans, the Angolans, the Libyans, the Ghanaians and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited don't sell the crude to us in naira.
"Now you can understand why we stopped the naira sales earlier. How can we be sitting on huge amounts of naira when NNPCL is not selling the crude to us in naira, except for some small quantity? The good thing is that, on Friday, the Federal Government promised to resolve it."
The latest intervention follows repeated complaints by the refinery over inadequate crude allocations under the Federal Government's naira-for-crude programme. Under the arrangement, the refinery was expected to receive approximately 13 million barrels of crude oil every month for domestic refining and naira-denominated fuel sales.
However, the company said actual deliveries have consistently fallen well below expectations, forcing it to rely heavily on imported crude from countries including the United States, Angola and Ghana. According to refinery officials, less than 35 per cent of the expected monthly allocation has been supplied under the initiative.
A source familiar with the matter disclosed that despite improvements in Nigeria's crude oil production, the refinery has recently been receiving only about four million barrels of crude monthly under the naira-for-crude arrangement, far below its processing requirements.
The supply shortfall has significantly increased the refinery's dependence on imported crude purchased entirely in foreign currency. Industry sources said the company is consequently reviewing its marketing strategy and plans to export a larger share of refined products to generate additional foreign exchange needed for future crude imports.
The refinery recently disclosed that it imported 40.40 million barrels of crude oil between May and June 2026 at a combined landed cost of approximately $4.48bn. According to the company, these purchases were made under long-term contracts linked to monthly average crude prices rather than daily spot market movements, reinforcing its position that refinery pricing is primarily determined by feedstock acquisition costs.
The refinery has consistently maintained that the long-term success of the naira-for-crude initiative depends on adequate and predictable crude supply. While the Federal Government's latest commitment to provide dollar liquidity offers temporary relief, industry observers say sustained implementation of the arrangement, alongside improved domestic crude availability, will be critical to ensuring uninterrupted refinery operations and stable fuel supplies across Nigeria.