The third edition of the Nigeria Oil Refining Summit (NORS held in Lagos between September 28 and 29, 2026, was imperative on account of the pragmatic steps taken by stakeholders to bring to the front burner Nigeria’s need to promote indigenous refining.
The stakeholders, who were miffed by Nigeria’s crude supply short fall inspite of the huge pumps of the product by the country, said only robust local refining could set Nigeria in the right pace.
Their projection of local crude requirement matched their renewed efforts to ensure Nigeria feeds its growing population with imported fuel.
They said local refineries, championed by the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery and a growing army of modular plants, will soon require more than 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).
According to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Nigeria currently pumps about 1.68 million to 1.74 million bpd, setting a worrying perspective about the country’s exports, joint venture obligations, government revenue, OPEC commitments and inevitable production disruptions.
This explains the stakeholders’ stringent advocacy that the country’s refining must survive, and be intentionally guarded to champion Africa’s refining hub.
Speaking, Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG), Mr. Adegbite Falade, told the gathering that Nigeria’s problem is not geology.
Quoting NUPRC’s January 2026 reserves, he said said the position puts crude oil and condensate reserves at 37.01 billion barrels and gas at 215.19 trillion cubic feet.
He added: “The challenge, therefore, is not whether the hydrocarbons exist underground. It is whether we can convert reserves into production, production into secure supply, and secure supply into domestic refining competitiveness
“Geologically, yes. Technically, yes. Commercially and logistically, not yet there and certainly not by regulation alone.”
He maintained that the solution is not to ration a limited pool of crude between export and local use, but to create more barrels.
He emphasized the need for Nigeria to grow the production base through faster field development, marginal field growth and access to capital; protect and modernise evacuation infrastructure including pipelines, terminals, storage and jetties; match crude grades to refinery configurations ; and construct a transparent, competitive and investable domestic crude market capable of aggregating volumes, facilitating grade blending and enabling swaps.
Nigeria, he said, has made remarkable progress, on account ofNUPRC data which shows compliance with the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation (DCSO) rose to 97.4 per cent in Q2 2026.
This represents about 53.7 million barrels supplied to domestic refineries, up from about 41 per cent in the first quarter of the year, adding that Nigeria must move from annual allocations to rolling supply planning, from mandates to bankable contracts, from opaque discounts to transparent pricing.
He said: ‘The feedstock required to power Nigeria’s refining sector will increasingly flow from our fields and terminals. Our collective responsibility now is to ensure that our statutory policy continues to convert into commercial reality.”
In the opinion of the chairman of Crude Oil Refinery-Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), Mr. Momoh Oyarekhua, the instant challenge is no longer refining capacity, but commercially viable crude access. Despite growing domestic capacity, some refineries still struggle to secure crude while petroleum product imports continue to flood wet the market.
Hitting hard in his advocacy indigenous refining, he advocated the need for complete institutionalization of the Naira-for-Crude policy with transparent access for all qualifying domestic refineries, including modular plants.
According to him, there was need for domestic crude pricing template that reflects crude quality, delivery location, avoided international logistics costs and actual domestic evacuation expenses.
Nigeria, he said, needs stronger enforcement of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation under Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), while allowing workable commercial arrangements between producers and refiners.
The government should consider crude swaps and proximity-based supply arrangements where nearby producing fields supply nearby refineries without unnecessary transportation through distant export terminals; shared infrastructure – pipelines, depots, storage terminals, jetties and rail evacuation; and strategic petroleum-product reserves to cushion shutdowns.
He added: “Nigeria should not continue exporting crude, exporting jobs and importing the same petroleum products at considerable economic cost. Our crude must increasingly power our refineries. Our refineries must increasingly supply our market. And Nigeria must ultimately become a refining hub for Africa.”
He pressed for a Refinery Development Financing Framework offering long-tenor loans, guarantees and refinancing for new plants and capacity expansion, plus regulatory and fiscal incentives for conversion units capable of increasing domestic supply of petrol, aviation fuel and LPG.
Speaking on the theme “Building a Competitive Refining Industry for Energy Security and Economic Growth,” Chairman of Dangote Industries, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, whittled down protection from competition, stressing that competition must take place on a level playing field.
He quoted that crude production at about 1.74 million bpd in June 2026, its highest in several years, and crude receipts by domestic refineries rising to about 683,000 bpd in August 2026, with domestic refining supplying an increasingly significant share of requirements, adding that the figures show promising signals
To him building refineries is only the beginning, adding that a refinery is not simply a large industrial plant, it is part of an interconnected value chain extending from crude production to transportation, storage, refining, distribution, retail and exports. Weakness in any part of this chain affects the competitiveness of the entire industry.
He said: “The opportunities go beyond petrol, diesel and aviation fuel. Refining should provide the platform for petrochemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers and other downstream manufacturing industries.”
He argued that recent global energy disruptions, is a manifestation that a country of over 200 million cannot leave strategic commodity supply to refineries thousands of kilometres away. Energy security, he said, is economic security.
On fundamentals for competitiveness, Dangote stressed the need for guarantee reliable and competitive access to crude, with a view to promoting predictability, transparency and commercially workable arrangements.
There should be a truly competitive downstream market where imported and locally refined products compete under equivalent regulatory, quality, tax and commercial conditions, he advised.
He reasoned that no refinery should survive simply because government protects it, adding that no domestic refinery should be disadvantaged by a market structure that inadvertently makes imports more attractive than local production.
He emphasized the need for stable, predictable and transparent policy and regulation.
He opined that government does not need to guarantee the profitability of private investors, but should guarantee clarity, consistency and fairness of the rules.
He advised that Nigeria should build infrastructure around refineries, as moving millions of litres predominantly by road is costly, inefficient and damaging.
Calling for pipelines, coastal distribution, storage depots and efficient evacuation, the business mogul advised Nigeria to treat domestic refining as an export industry.
He added: “Our ambition should go beyond meeting Nigeria’s domestic demand. Nigeria is strategically located to become a major refining and petrochemical hub serving West Africa, Central Africa and other international markets.
“Nigeria needs many successful refineries—large, medium, modular and specialised… The private sector is prepared to invest, but investment will go where capital can operate efficiently, where contracts are respected.”
In his remarks, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, aligns with the local refining push but with emphasis on implementation.
He noted that the government is committed to full implementation of the DCSO, adding that the increase to 97.4 per cent compliance as evidence that regulation can work when supported by political will.
His ministry acknowledged that the pilot phase of the Naira-for-Crude, has exposed pricing and foreign exchange challenges but said that total implementation remains Federal Government policy as a tool to ease forex pressure and lower pump prices.
He also stressed the need to re-balance incentives.
According to him, while government will not abruptly ban imports – which would risk scarcity – it will progressively disincentivize importation of products that can be produced locally at competitive quality, in line with Petroleum Industry Act provisions.
He promised investors that evacuation security gains will be protected and that NUPRC and NMDPRA are working on a transparent domestic crude pricing framework that factors in grade differentials and logistics.
Above all, NORS 2026 has come and gone, but its echoes for total indigenous refining will remain etched in the memories of stakeholders and policy makers who graced the event, especially as Nigeria races to meet the renewed hope agenda of the current administration.
SOURCE: Independent
