NNPCL Accused Of Starving Edo Refinery Of Crude Supply 

By Stephen Asaba-ase

The management of Edo Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited (ERPCL) has expressed frustration over the persistent lack of crude oil supply from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). Despite being a fully functional 1,000 barrels per day stream crude oil refinery, ERPCL has not received any crude oil from NNPCL, hindering its ability to operate at full capacity.

ERPCL’s representative, Segun Okeni, stated that the refinery has existing crude oil supply agreements with Seplat and ND Western since 2022, but bureaucratic bottlenecks had prevented access to the necessary resources. Okeni alleged that NNPCL had failed to assign any preferred fields to allocate crude to ERPCL, despite numerous meetings and communications over the past three years.

The refinery is facing significant challenges due to the lack of crude oil supply, and Okeni emphasised the need for NNPCL to put loading infrastructure in place to allow for truck loading. He also sought the intervention of NNPCL’s Group CEO, Mele Kyari, to enable ERPCL to start lifting crude oil from Oil Mining License.

The situation had been described as frustrating, with Okeni arguing that the inability of local investors to access crude oil discourages foreign investment and hinders economic growth. He noted that Nigeria loses millions of dollars due to NNPCL’s failure to supply modular refineries, which had a total installed capacity of less than 30,000bpd.