It has been discovered that NNPC swapped about 352 million barrels of oil worth a total of $35 billion (N7 trillion) between 2010 and 2014.
This was revealed by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), an international independent body that monitors the oil and gas sector globally, in its report.
Swap is a deal by the NNPC through which crude oil is bartered for petroleum products, rather than sold for money. It is used as a means of mitigating inadequate local supply
In the report, entitled: “Inside NNPC Oil Sales: A Case for Reform in Nigeria,” released on Tuesday, NRGI stated that “NNPC data shows that the corporation allocated just over 79 million barrels (or roughly 218,000 barrels a day) to swaps in 2011 alone.
“This accounted for nearly half of the DCA and around a tenth of the country’s average daily production. For 2011, the oil involved in swaps was worth approximately $9 billion, internal NNPC data suggests.”
According to the report, that would not be the first time the corporation would resort to swapping crude oil for refined products as it had happened in the past.
