Henceforth, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will sell crude oil directly to refiners and purchase refined oil products from them, a measure intended to cut out middlemen and curb graft from the oil sector. The spokesman of NNPC, Ohi Alegbe in a statement on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 said the move was “designed to enshrine transparency and eliminate the activities of middlemen in the crude oil exchange” that have characterized the hitherto swap scheme, Reuters reported. Associated Press further cited him as explaining that the decision was made after a screening of previously used and prequalified petroleum product importers revealed almost all the 34 international and 10 local companies were middleman businesses. NNPC had shortlisted 44 companies for the swap agreements for 2016, also called “offshore processing arrangements” (OPAs), but said most of them did not directly operate refineries, Reuters said. Getting oil products from such companies, NNPC […]