(Ecofin Agency) - The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has increased the number of off-takers of the country’s crude oil from 21 to 27.

This is coming almost a year after the corporation announced that it has awarded its 2016 crude oil term contracts to 21 companies consisting of international refiners, trading houses and indigenous downstream firms.

NNPC on its website on Thursday, revealed that 27 companies had been selected to be involved in the crude lifting process.

Some of these companies include, Oando Plc, Forte Oil, Sahara Energy, A. A. Rano Nigeria Limited, Eterna Plc, MRS Oil and Gas, Televeras, Duke Oil and Trafigura.

Last year October, the corporation revealed 278 bids by companies looking to procure the contracts. It stated then that 16 would finally get the award for the sale and purchase of the 26 Nigerian crude oil grades on offer.

But in December, without giving a reason, it announced that 21 firms had been awarded the contracts, which covers 991,661 bopd worth $13.5bn at that time, Punch news reports.

That same month, NNPC grouped three prominent international trading companies, Trafigura PT Limited, Mercuria Energy Trading SA and Vitol SA, as companies that won the bid for the lifting of 32,000 bpd of crude based on their history as large-scale buyers of Nigerian crude.

“The off-takers in this category represent about 10 per cent of total crude volume on offer,” it had said adding that trading subsidiaries of foreign oil companies including ENI Trading and Shipping SPA, Total Oil Trading SA, Exxon Sale and Supply LLC and Shell Western Supply and Trading also got term allocations of 32,000 bpd each.

Local downstream players with comprehensive experience in crude trading and large asset base constitute accounted for 405,000 bpd, signifying about 41% of the total crude volume on offer.

Anita Fatunji