Indications have emerged that Nigerians may have to wait a little longer before locally refined petroleum products would be available in order to halt the rising cost of imported fuel, which landing cost is currently put at N720 per litre.
This is due to the fact the four refineries of Warri, Kaduna and two at Port Harcourt are far from being ready, even though the Federal Government awarded contracts for their rehabilitation.
Recall that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company NNPC) Ltd, last year signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dae-woo Group, a South Korean conglomerate, for the rehabilitation of Kaduna Refinery.
At the contract signing ceremony, Vice President, Downstream Sector of the NNPC, Adeyemi Adetunji, said the quick fix strategy guarantees the fastest route streaming the Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited (WRPC) and Kaduna (KPRC) for in – country production of refined petroleum products.
He said: “Restoring WRPC and KRPC to operation will guarantee energy security for the country and reduce dependence on imported products in view of near total dependence on the supply of imported petroleum products and the impact the ongoing Russia – Ukraine war is having on global supply. “Also, this will generate revenue, reduce demand for forex, supply raw materials to industries, create employment for Nigerians, and ensure technology transfer amongst other benefits.”
Adetunji noted that the NNPC is repairing the refineries with a combination of internally-generated revenue and third party financing.’ In August 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved $1.48 billion for the rehabilitation of both Warri and Kaduna Refineries. In January this year, former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, expressed the hope that Nigeria may stop the importation of petroleum products by the first quarter of 2024.
Sylva said the Port Harcourt Refinery which has capacity of 60,000 barrels per day ( BPD) will partially be restored and ready for operation by the first quarter of 2023. In addition, he said that the several modular refinery projects in the country, the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery is also expected to be operational by the end of 2023. According to him, with the combined production capacity of the Port Harcourt Refinery, Dangote Refinery and other Modular refineries, Nigeria would end the importation of petroleum products soon.
However, this has remained a mirage as the roll out dates have been postponed severally. For instance, the Q2 2023 date fixed for the PHR to be back on stream even at 64 percent capacity in January this year, has since passed without any product from the state owned refinery.
Industry observers have pointef out that this is usually due to unforeseen circumstances normally beyond the control of the operators of such refineries. An engineer with Daewoo, the company contracted to rehabilitate the Kaduna Refinery, said that in Kaduna, they are yet to start any major work.
Also, according to a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, due to the sensitive nature of the matter said: “As a matter of fact, we are yet to mobilise to site for work. “Since February, when we started preliminary work, there was no office for the staff that will work on the refinery.
