Nigeria aims to cut joint venture oil stake to 40% as NNPC issues 2019-2020 crude for product tender

Nigeria plans to cut its stake in joint venture oil assets with multinational oil companies to 40 percent this year, its budget minister said in a statement. The government has considered reducing its majority stakes in these joint ventures for more than a decade. Oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil, operate in Nigeria through joint ventures with the state-owned NNPC.

Meanwhile NNPC has issued its 2019-2020 crude-for-product swap tender, the state-owned oil company said on Wednesday. The Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) tender document did not specify the start date or the quantities involved, but said the arrangement would be for one year.

The tender is set to close on May 2 at noon local time, NNPC said on its official Twitter account.

Crude-for-product swap contracts are the country’s main avenue to meet the bulk of its gasoline and diesel needs. Nigerian refineries have a capacity of about 445,000 barrels per day but have underperformed for years, making Africa’s biggest oil producer almost wholly dependent on imports. The crude-for-product swaps were extended until June, sources familiar with the matter said last year.