The National Economic Council’s decision to reduce the volume of crude oil committed to servicing the government’s $3.3bn Project Gazelle oil-backed financing arrangement could lengthen the repayment timeline by about six months, potentially shifting the completion date from December 2029 to around June 2030, an analysis by The PUNCH has shown.
The projection is based on the revised daily crude allocation approved as part of the facility refinancing, which lowered Nigeria’s pledged crude from 90,000 barrels per day to 78,750 barrels per day, a reduction of 11,250 barrels per day.
The refinancing was approved by the National Economic Council at its meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima on Monday after the Federal Government sought to restructure the oil-backed financing to ease pressure on crude oil allocations while maintaining the country’s debt obligations.
But the Managing Partner of The Energy Consulting Practice, Kelvin Emmanuel, has faulted the Federal Government’s proposed Project Gazelle II crude-backed financing arrangement, describing it as unnecessary, opaque and financially disadvantageous to Nigeria.
He argued that the structure would impose fresh costs on the country despite existing oil-backed repayment mechanisms and questioned the transparency surrounding the transaction.
