Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, defended the company’s fuel import monopoly, asserting that oil marketers withdrew due to price volatility in the downstream sector.
Addressing the Senate Committee on Finance, Kyari assured lawmakers that despite the monopoly, the downstream sector faced no issues.
He attributed the withdrawal of oil companies to challenges imposed by the Petroleum Industry Act. Kyari expressed confidence that by the first quarter of the next year, market stability would improve, narrowing the gap between parallel and import-export exchange rates.
Additionally, he asserted that the 2024 budget’s crude oil production projections and $77.96 price benchmark were realistic and achievable, citing market trends and the cumulative oil production figure of 1.785mbpd, inclusive of crude oil and condensate.
