LAGOS�Importation of refined fuel products into Nigeria will continue even after the four Nigerian refineries have undergone maintenance turnaround and are operating at maximum capacity, said managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki in early July.
The group managing director said that offshore processing of Nigeria�s crude oil for local consumption was dropped in favor of direct importation because the cost of the former was too high.
Gaius-Obaseki said the corporation also arranged for direct swapping, or selling the crude and then buying products from outside.
The decision to arrange a direct swap was taken by NNPC executives with much study. ��In doing that one had to take into consideration the cost of transport, the crude, the fee to be paid to the refinery that would process it, and the cost of transporting the product back to the country,� he said.
