The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, is in the final stage of signing $6 billion deal with local and international traders to exchange about 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil for imported petrol and diesel.

The deals, which were previously referred to as offshore crude oil processing agreements (OPAs) and crude-for-products exchange arrangements, are now known as Direct Sale-Direct Purchase Agreements (DSDP).

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had said the DSDP was adopted to replace the oil swaps and the offshore processing contracts so as to entrench transparency into the crude oil-for-product transactions and save the country $1 billion.

The signing of the deals earlier scheduled to take off by April, it was learn, was delayed for three months to allow the NNPC and the oil traders negotiate the fuel specifications, among other issues.

This year’s beneficiaries also exceeded those of last year by three consortiums, indicating the country’s increased dependence on the NNPC for fuel importation.

Kachikwu had stated in Lagos on Wednesday that with the rise of crude oil price above $52 per barrel, the country finds itself reverting to the position it found itself in, in the first and second quarters of 2016 when NNPC was the sole importer of petrol.

Some of the companies that benefited in 2016 also made this year’s list, including Varo Energy, Societe Ivorienne de Raffinage (SIR), Total and Cepsa.