Nigerians urge U.S. to sanction NNPCL for violating oil price cap
A group of concerned Nigerian citizens has approached the U.S. government, requesting sanctions on the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its CEO, Mele Kyari, for violating international restrictions imposed on Russian oil.
In a letter sent on Thursday to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the group of Nigerians stated that NNPCL imports Russian crude oil and oil products above the price cap set by the U.S., EU, and Australia, which is $60 per barrel.
As they signed the petition, the Concerned Citizens for Economic Reforms of Nigeria (CCERN) informed the U.S. that the state-owned company mixes oil products from various sources with Russian oil purchased above the $60 per barrel limit in Malta, violating existing sanctions.
They calculated that Russia earned over $2 billion from these transactions in a year, enabling it to generate substantial revenue to fund the war efforts against Ukraine.
The Nigerians' interest in oil transactions stemmed from the desire to understand, why gasoline prices at Nigerian stations are so high and whether Nigerians are paying more for gasoline than international reference prices, considering the country currently relies on importing this product.
The letter ends by expressing concern that the revenues from these illegal activities are also being used to promote Russian influence in West Africa and fund anti-Western protests there, which poses a risk of pulling the region into conflicts that could jeopardize the interests of both Nigerians and the United States.
Bought more oil from Russia than China
India set a record for importing oil from Russia. In July, it averaged 2 million barrels per day, an increase of 12% compared to the previous year, while China imported 1.76 million barrels per day during the same period, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Russian crude oil accounted for a record 44% of India's total imports last month. By comparison, in 2021, before Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Russian oil made up just 2% of the annual imports.
After Moscow launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022, India and China became key markets for Russian raw materials sanctioned mainly by the EU and the U.S. These restrictions aimed to cut off funding for Russia's war efforts. Despite pressure from the U.S. and Europe, both countries refused to comply with the Western sanctions imposed on Russian imports.
