FG Vows to Hold NNPC Responsible if Refinery Fails to Work as Scheduled
- Petroleum minister urged oil producers to increase production for Nigerian refineries
- He said the NNPCL will be held responsible if the refineries fail to be completed as scheduled
- He reiterated that phase 1 of the Port Harcourt refinery will completed by year-end
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Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), has stressed the need to ramp up production to feed Nigerian refineries upon completion.
He said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) will be held responsible if the Nigerian refinery is not completed as scheduled.
Source: UGC
He said this while responding to questions at the end of the three-day retreat at the State House Conference Center, Abuja as contained in a Vanguard report.
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Refineries to be ready soon
The minister said that he has gone round the refineries and from what he was told, phase 1 of the Port Harcourt refinery will completed by year end.
He, however, emphasised that he is not directly in charge of rehabilitation. He said:
It is the NNPCL and they have told me and I am holding them accountable.”
“For Warri refinery, they said Phase 1 will be ready by the end of the year. Phase 2 and 3 in Port Harcourt will be ready next year and the whole of Kaduna refinery will be ready by the end of next year. That is what they said and I am holding them accountable to their own words."
He said that if some significant rehabilitation can be attained by year-end, it will improve domestic refining capacity.
He, however, raises issues of unavailability of feedstock as an important challenge.
“That’s why I said unless we produce sufficient quantity, even if the refineries are rehabilitated there will be no feedstock. So my challenge is to ramp up production so that we can see how we can feed not only the big refineries but also the modular refineries, these are the real employers of Labour and they will do the magic.”
He highlighted challenges such as the low level of production tied to security issues, lack of investments, and all other concerns.
The minister said the issues were already being addressed and significant progress will follow in subsequent reports.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) under the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources announced the completion of its modular refinery with plans to increase its capacity for use in the commercial sector.
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In another report by Legit.ng, Taiwo Oyedele, the chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, has said Nigeria is better off with its refinery not operational.
He spoke during The Platform’s Independence Anniversary event, tagged ‘Africa Rising Continent – Nigeria’s Strategic Role’, held on Monday, October 2, 2023.
Oyedele warned that if Nigerian refineries produce oil, managerial inadequacies might make a liter of petrol the most costly in the world.
Source: Legit.ng
