The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu has urged International Oil Companies to invest in building refineries in the Nigeria.
Speaking at a presentation to top executives of ENI in Rome, Italy on Monday, Kachikwu enjoined the group to move beyond just the business of crude exploration to firmly supporting the vision of enhancing local production of petroleum products in Nigeria by building refineries in the country.
He stated that the major plan of the Federal Government is to stop importation of petroleum products in the long term and that it would be expedient that every IOC should invest in building a refinery with chain of distribution.
He reiterated the urgent need for the building of refineries and power plants to drive the economy of the country.
He said refineries could be built by the IOCs and within a short period of time, investment in the venture could be recouped by direct sales model.
Kachikwu gave a historical background of the challenges of the sector by stating that the investment is necessary now more than ever considering the fact that Nigeria’s refineries, which were built in the 1970s and 1980s, are presently working at sub optimal levels and cannot sufficiently cater for local needs, hence the country is heavily dependent on product importation that creates instability in supply and price of products in the country.
The attempt by previous governments to privatise refineries and attract investment in refineries failed to yield the required result, he added.
The present government, he said, had promised to correct this by upgrading old refineries and building new ones, thus increasing local production capacity with an objective to reduce importation of petroleum products by 60 per cent in 2018, and by 2019 to become a net exporter of petroleum products and value added petrochemicals. The meeting was in furtherance to Kachikwu’s commitment to the full implementation of the #7BigWins, which is the roadmap that focuses on the short and medium term priorities to grow Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
The meeting was rounded up with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between ENI and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, with ENI committing to the refurbishment of the Port Harcourt Refinery, building of Phase 2 of the Okpai Power Plant and further investments in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry worth over several billions of Dollars. In continuation of the ongoing investment drive in Italy, Kachikwu will be meeting the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Economic Development of Italy to formalize the new trend of cooperation between Oil Majors and Nigeria and will also meet with 10 other Oil and Gas companies in Italy to further expand the partners of investments in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas sector.
Eni signs MOU with Nigeria to refurbish refinery, build power plant
