In its renewed bid to ensure transparency in all commercial activities relating to petroleum operations in Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has released the guidelines for the participation of local and foreign companies in the sale and purchase of the various grades of Nigerian crude oil.

The release of the guidelines is coming a few weeks after the corporation initiated measures to make the yearly Offshore Processing Agreements (OPAs) between it and oil traders more transparent.

But while the latest guidelines are in relation to the sale and purchase of Nigeria’s crude oil, OPAs and oil swap agreements are only in respect of the 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day allocated to the NNPC for the country’s refineries.

Details of the guidelines for the sale of the country’s crude, which were published monday, requires companies that wish to participate to show evidence of yearly turnover of $750 million; a minimum net worth of $300 million; ability to establish an irrevocable Letter of Credit for the payment of any allocated crude oil, subject to the terms of the contract; and ability to pay an initial deposit of $2.5 million, representing three lifting deposits upon signing of the contract agreement.

Read More: thisdaylive