Indonesia to increase its purchases of Nigerian crude oil as both nations step up bilateral trade

NIGERIAN National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) officials have disclosed that Indonesia has indicated its interest in increasing its crude oil purchases from Nigeria in a development they hope will boost the country's exports.

At the moment, Indonesia is one of Nigeria's largest crude oil purchasers, overtaking traditional buyers like the UK and US. According to NNPC, while Indonesia produces 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day, it uses 1.4m barrels, so 18% of its supplies come from Nigeria and 28% from Saudi Arabia.

NNPC spokesman Ndu Ughamadu, made this known to it when Indonesia's ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto, paid a courtesy visit to the NNPC group managing director Dr Maikanti Baru, in Abuja. Mr Purwanto explained that Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, had instructed the National Oil Company to direct its attention to Nigeria in its quest to meet the country’s surging energy needs.

According to the NNPC, the call by President Purwanto signified the prospects of a soaring market share for Nigeria in emerging economies in Asia which include China and India. Mr Baru welcomed the development, adding that the NNPC was interested in working with Indonesia to replace firewood and kerosene with liquefied petroleum gas as the primary domestic fuel for cooking in Nigeria.

He also said the corporation was aware of the huge success of the kerosene substitution programme in Indonesia and would like collaboration to help Nigeria achieve a similar feat. According to Mr Baru, the NNPC would also like to partner with Indonesia in the area of bio-fuels production to diversify the nation’s energy mix and meet its energy needs.

Mr Baru thus challenged Indonesia to consider participating in the forthcoming oil blocks bid round in order to realise its aspiration of maintaining a presence in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Mr Purwanto, equally disclosed that his country looked forward to lifting crude oil directly from Nigeria, rather than through a third-party as is currently the case.