Fuel truck explosion in Nigeria kills 48

At least 48 people have been killed in Nigeria after a fuel tanker truck exploded, the state’s disaster management agency said. he reported on Monday, noting that the fuel transport collided overnight with a truck carrying passengers and cattle in the north-central region of the country.

In July, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) reached an agreement with oil producers to supply crude to domestic refineries at market prices, ending a supply dispute that has strained relations with international oil companies. Nigeria imports most of its fuel needs due to inadequate refining capacity, although a 650,000 bpd refinery built by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, and operational since February, should produce more than enough for needs the country. earlier, Dangote Refinery they complained that oil companies were hindering local purchases of crude oil by demanding excessive premiums or saying they had no supplies available.

The NUPRC said in a statement that it cannot allow price fixing to hinder domestic refining.We will never allow price strangulation to discourage the optimization of our domestic refining capacity.“

Multinational oil and gas divestment from the Niger Delta, which began over a decade ago, has intensified in recent years. Numerous oil and gas companies have exited the Nigerian market in recent years, despite Africa’s largest economy opening its doors to wider exploration, courtesy Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.

Last year, the Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) completed the sale of Equinor Energy Company Nigeriay (ENEC) to the local company, Chappal Energy. The sale ended the company’s three-decade partnership with Africa’s biggest oil producer, during which Equinor pumped more than a billion barrels of crude from the Agbami field. Before that, the Chinese company Addax sold his four oil blocks the Nigerian state oil company, NNPC, while the Italian energy multinational Eni S.p.A (NYSE:E) announced plans to sell its onshore operations to local entity Oando.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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