The Crude Oil Refinery Association of Nigeria (CORAN) has asserted that local refinery companies, not importers, have demonstrated genuine commitment to the country’s downstream petroleum sector through massive capital investments in domestic infrastructure.
Okay News reports that in a statement titled “True Faith in Nigeria’s Downstream: Why Local Refinery Companies Built While Importers Traded,” CORAN highlighted the shift from decades of import dependence to emerging local refining capacity.
The association argued that faith in Nigeria’s economy is best measured by investors’ willingness to commit long-term, immobile capital amid risks like construction delays, crude supply uncertainties, forex volatility, power constraints, logistics challenges, and regulatory shifts.
Local refiners—from large-scale to modular plants—have poured tens of billions of dollars into fixed assets that deliver value only if Nigeria succeeds as a refining and energy-secure nation.
These investments require ongoing operational discipline, product quality adherence, environmental responsibility, community engagement, and sustained market participation.
In contrast, CORAN described the import model dominating for three decades as lucrative during the subsidy era, driven by price arbitrage, preferential forex access, and weak verification systems.
Multiple investigations revealed overpayments for volumes exceeding realistic consumption, costing billions in short periods.
Despite substantial profits, little reinvestment occurred in domestic refining, storage, or processing.
National Bureau of Statistics data showed petrol imports exceeding 20 billion litres in 2023—barely lower than 2022—and surging to N15.4 trillion in value in 2024 from N7.5 trillion in 2023.
These outflows represented lost opportunities for domestic circulation through refining jobs, logistics, petrochemicals, and industrial growth.
CORAN questioned why importer profits flowed into real estate, financial assets, or upstream marginal fields sold internationally rather than local refining.
The association stressed that Nigeria now faces a choice between philosophies: local value addition for energy security and resilience versus import reliance on ports, forex, and permissive regimes.
CORAN declared policy neutrality insufficient, calling for deliberate choices favouring refiners.
It demanded transparent, rule-based crude supply mechanisms; conditional import licensing as a balancing tool when domestic capacity meets demand; and forex/pricing alignment to avoid disadvantaging local producers.
The measures, CORAN insisted, are standard industrial policies in serious energy economies, not protectionism.
The statement framed the debate as a national decision on downstream vision, not corporate rivalry.
Supporting local refiners strengthens sovereignty, jobs, and capacity, while perpetual imports expose Nigeria to shocks and instability.
CORAN concluded that local companies have proven faith by building plants on Nigerian soil, while the import model focused on cargoes and margins.
Policy, it urged, must reward demonstrated long-term commitment.
 has asserted that local refinery companies, not importers, have demonstrated genuine commitment to the country's downstream petroleum sector through massive capital investments in domestic infrastructure.){kind=link}