The Nigeria’s refinery capacity will reach 1.1 million barrels per day in 2020, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu said yesterday.
This, according to Kachikwu, will be achieved when Dangote Petrochemical refinery’s 650,000 bpd, Nigeria’s four refineries of 450,000bpd capacity and three modular refineries come on stream in two years’ time.
Speaking in Lagos at the 18th edition of the International Biennial Health Safety and Environmental (HSE) Conference on the oil and gas industry in Nigeria organised by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Kachikwu said Nigeria’s desire to achieve fuel sufficiency in 2019 may not be realisable, but 2020 is sure.
According to him, 10 out of 20 private modular refineries of about 400,000 refining capacity have shown serious committed, three of which he said may come on stream in 2019 while Dangote refinery is expected to come on stream in 2020
“I am very excited about the development as they tend to create fuel suffiency as well as employment opportunities. We are also working hard to see the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)’s four refineries coming up with 425,000 b/d in 2020. Hopefully, we will be having board meeting next week where we will take some soft landing decision for the commercial investment on the refineries. In all, we are expecting about 1.1 million barrels refining capacity by 2020”, he said
Also, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo while restated the federal government’s commitment to the passage of Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the reforms proposed in the PIGB represent our collective interest in a sustained transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector to help the country realise its full potential in the sector.
“While there have been varied reactions to Mr. President’s recent decision to return the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB)to the National Assembly for slight amendments, permit me to state unequivocally that this administration remains fully committed to the Passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) and we are working closely with the National Assembly to ensure its timely passage. The reforms proposed in the PIGB reflects our collective desire to entrench transparency and sustainability of oil and gas operations in Nigeria to enable the country finally to realise the full potential of her hydrocarbon resources.
“As we speak, some of the big International Oil Companies are already funding gigantic researches into alternative fuels, which include the use of cheap, common algae. As sweet as Nigeria’s crudes are renown to be globally, we have recently lost our most valued customers and our gas buyers are themselves now competing with us in the same marketspace as suppliers”, he said
