Dangote Petroleum Refinery on Wednesday said it is suspending sales of petroleum in naira deal with Nigeria.

This development came a few days after the Nigerian authorities claimed the naira-for-crude deal was still in effect.

In a statement on Wednesday, Dangote Petroleum Refinery said it has “temporarily halted the sale of petroleum products in naira.”

It added, “This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in U.S. dollars. To date, our sales of petroleum products in naira have exceeded the value of naira-denominated crude we have received. As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency.”

Dangote Petroleum Refinery further said it would resume sales of its products in naira once it receives allocation of naira dominated crude cargoes from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited.

“We remain committed to serving the Nigerian market efficiently and sustainably. As soon as we receive an allocation of naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in naira,” the statement indicated, dismissing as false “reports on the internet claiming that it has stopped loading due to an incident of ticketing fraud.”