NNPC gives more oil purchase deals to local firms as vote looms

State oil firm NNPC has awarded 50 companies with contracts to buy Nigerian crude and more than half of them are local firms, foreign and Nigerian trading sources said.
Of the total, 32 were local companies, doubling the number of awards to Nigerian firms compared to 2017.
NNPC also awarded contracts to supply crude to 12 governments, although it was not clear how many of the deals
would be handled by the companies already on the list of awards.
NNPC awards the oil purchase contracts annually, but sources said the deals this year were for two years not one year.
Contract awards were announced in January last year. Sources said the government may have delayed an announcement this time by several months as it sought to line up more local firms for awards, so it could drum up support for next year’s election.
The sources said a partial list of firms awarded deals emerged on Monday, with a final list coming out on Tuesday.

This year’s overall total of 50 foreign and local firms was more than the 39 listed in 2017. The list last year also
included three bilateral government deals.
NNPC did not respond to calls and emailed requests for comment.
Nigeria’s oil ministry said it produced more than 2 million barrels per day of crude and condensate in April. Exports were expected to average 1.8 million bpd in the first half of 2018, up from to 1.6 million bpd in 2017, loading programmes showed.

International trading firms and refiners:
    
 Augusta     Switzerland based
 BB Energy   Lebanon               
 Cepsa       Spain
 Glencore    Switzerland based
 HPCL        Indian refiner
 Litasco     Trading arm of
             Russia's Lukoil
 Mocoh       Switzerland
 Petraco     Switzerland
 Petrobras   Brazil
 Sacoil      South Africa
 SEER        Unit of South Africa's
             SacOil Energy Equity
             Resources Ltd 
 Socar       Trading arm of
             Azerbaijan's Socar
 Sonara      Cameroon refining co
 Total       France
 Trafigura   Switzerland
 Vitol       Britain
 Calson      Vitol/NNPC joint
             venture
 ZR Energy   
             
Nigerian companies:
    
 AA Rano
 Aipec
 AMG
 Arkleen
 Barbedos
 Bono Energy
 Casiva
 Cretus
 Emadeb
 Eterna
 Gladius Commodities
 Hinstock
 Leighton
 Levene
 Masters Energy
 Matrix
 MRS
 North West
 Oando 
 Sahara Group
 Ocean Bed (Sahara
 trading subsidiary)
 Propetrol
 Prudent
 Setana
 Setraco
 Shoreline
 Ultimate Gas
 Voyage
 West African gas
 Zitts and Lords
 Obat Oil & Gas
 Duke Oil (NNPC
 subsidiary)
    
 Deals with governments:
     
 China
 India
 South Africa
 Turkey
 Ivory Coast
 Ghana
 Liberia
 Niger
 Sierra Leone
 Senegal
 Togo
 Malawi