The Dangote Petroleum Refinery said it has temporarily halted the sale of petroleum products in naira.

The refinery announced the decision in a statement on Wednesday.

The development comes a few hours after reports that the refinery would stop loading petroleum products for the Nigerian market as the renegotiation of the naira-for-crude deal is not recording significant progress.

Sources had told the publication the refinery would continue to load for export as it currently sources all its crude stock from the international market in dollars.

In the statement, the refinery said the decision to halt sales in naira was “necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in U.S. dollars”.

“To date, our sales of petroleum products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude we have received,” the statement reads.

“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency.”

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The refinery also debunked claims that the temporary suspension was due to ticketing frauds, saying they are “malicious”.

The firm, however, assured that sales would resume in naira as soon as they receive crude supply in naira from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

“Our attention has also been drawn to reports on the internet claiming that we are stopping loading due to an incident of ticketing fraud,” Dangote refinery said.

“This is a malicious falsehood. Our systems are robust and we have had no fraud issues.

“We remain committed to serving the Nigerian market efficiently and sustainably.

“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira.”

On March 10, TheCable reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had reportedly suspended the naira-for-crude deal until 2030, as the government-owned company has forward-sold all its crude oil.

However, following the report, NNPC said negotiations are ongoing for a new naira-for-crude deal with Dangote Petroleum Refinery, as the current agreement will expire at the end of March.

Zaach Adedeji, chairman of the naira-for-crude policy technical sub-committee, reassured that the naira-based crude oil supply arrangement with local refineries has not been discontinued.