Abuja, Nigeria | – The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has concluded plans to enter into new crude for oil products swap agreements with Total, Varo Energy, Cepsa and ENI, reports local news agencies.
The Federal government, through the NNPC, will engage the companies for the swap deal in February.
The head of NNPC’s crude marketing unit, Mele Kyari said the government was deviating from the former “offshore processing” agreements as they are directly with refineries who can use the crude to produce the oil products the country needs.
NNPC cancelled the initial bidding process for crude swap agreements in November, deciding to pick 14 refiners that could process the oil themselves in order to eliminate middlemen.
Varo Energy is a joint venture refining company between global oil trader Vitol and private equity firm Carlyle Group. Cepsa, ENI and Total are all integrated oil companies with refineries in Europe.
