By my understanding, President Buhari did not really want to repair the four state owned Refineries ab initio going by our history of endless and unproductive turn around maintenance of the past that only promoted corruption and instead turned the monies around into some people’s private pockets....CONTINUE READING
However, due partly to resistance from organised Labour to selling the Refineries; citing the jobs that would be lost and the government’s unwillingness to sell the Refineries as is, as scrap, the President decided to repair the Refineries after necessary due diligence had been done on the 4 state owned Refineries.
COVID-19 Omicron: Buhari, 10 Ministers Jet Out To Dubai
Thereafter contracts were awarded with clear breakdown of the extent of work to be done and specific timelines for their completion.
Therefore, in August 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the awards of contracts for the rehabilitation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries to the Italian company Saipem for US$1.5bn. The installed capacities of Warri and Kaduna refineries are 125,000 bpd and 110,000 bpd respectively.
The project should be completed in three phases of 21, 23, and 33 months.
Earlier in April 2021, the NNPC had signed a US$1.5bn contract with the Italian company Maire Tecnimont to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery.
The old Port Harcourt refinery commissioned in 1965 with current nameplate capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) and the new refinery commissioned in 1989 with an installed capacity of 150,000 bpd bring the combined crude processing capacity of the Port Harcourt Refinery to 210,000 bpsd.
The contract is aimed at restoring the complex to a minimum of 90% of its nameplate capacity. The project should be completed in three phases of 18, 24, and 44 months.
Some say it could have been begun or been done earlier. I say better late and done well than never or badly done.
What is being done is neither a turnaround maintenance nor a routine rehabilitation but a complete repair which entails changing, upgrading and modernising key components of the refineries.
Truth is those Refineries have not really been used. Some proponents of the sale only wanted them to be sold as scrap at give away prices so they can cash in as was done in the case of NEPA.
When the Refineries are restored to 90% capacity, the government can decide what to do with them. Whether to sell or to keep them. If it decides to sell then, it would be at full value.
I was initially against the repair of the Refineries until I saw the arguments, reasoned with them and they made sense. I then conceded to superior reasoning of the government.
In furtherance of its quest to sustainably address the perennial challenges faced by Nigerians with petroleum products, additionally, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) authorised the NNPC to acquire a 20% stake in the 650,000 bpd Dangote refinery in Lekki Free Zone, near Lagos, for US$2.76bn. The US$19bn Dangote Refinery is expected to be commissioned in early 2022.
The Federal Government recently ordered the mandatory participation of the NNPC in any privately-owned refinery that exceeds 50,000 bpd.
It is also common knowledge that under this Administration, several Modular Refineries have been licenced and some are already completed or near completion including the Duport Modular Refinery located within Duport Energy Park situated at Egbokor in Edo state which is on track to be completed by the end of December 2021.
That project is being developed with equity contribution from the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in line with the Federal Government’s policy of catalyzing modular refining; which is geared towards increasing in-country refining of petroleum products, adding value to crude oil resources, and creating jobs from oil and gas operations
Duport Energy Park is the first SMART energy park in the world that comprises of a 10,000 bpd modular refinery, a 60 million standard cubic feet per day gas gathering facility, a 50MW power plant and a data analysis centre.
When all these come on stream in a couple of months to 2 years, surely the historic and seeming intractable problem of petroleum products for domestic consumption in Nigeria would largely be solved.
We must always strive to dissect and address issues devoid of the ignorant, distractive and mischievous noise out there.
SERAP Should Stop Publicity Stunt And Declare Where It Gets Funds
If only many more Nigerians paid better and closer attention to what this Administration is doing strategically, they would understand that the future looks and would indeed be brighter and better; if we stayed focused and on course.
Feel Free To Share And Comment…
