FG to award partial autonomy to refineries

yinka ogunlami

December 7, 2015 2:21 PM

This initiative was geared towards preventing the Federal Government from bearing the burden of funding capital intensive projects in the upstream sector of the oil and gas Industry.

An oil refinery in Nigeria

The Federal Government of Nigeria is planning to award semi-autonomous status to the refineries.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, revealed this during an interactive session with Nigerians living in Vienna, Austria. The government is taking this step to help the refineries to run as profitable ventures.

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In a statement by the spokesman for the NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, on Sunday, the minister said that FG also expressed its readiness to raise funds from international investors and the private sector in 2016 to fund the Joint Venture cash calls between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and International Oil Companies (IOC) operating in the country.

He also added that in the next 24 months, Nigerians would see a positive turnaround in the corporation’s refinery model.

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“The new model is that refineries will now buy their own crude oil, refine it and make remittances to the Federal Account Allocation Committee. They will operate a semi-autonomous system that will enable them to run in a profitable manner,” he said.

This initiative was geared towards preventing the Federal Government from bearing the burden of funding capital intensive projects in the upstream sector of the oil and gas Industry. Kachikwu also noted that high-level discussions were already going on with local and international investors to bridge the funding gap.

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“In the years ahead, the NNPC’s over 5,000km of pipelines across the country would be privatized in order to enhance efficient management of the infrastructure and to bring to the barest minimum the high incidence of pipeline vandalism.”

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Kachikwu said that a ‘Clean Nigeria after Oil Initiative’ would be introduced in 2016. He said the initiative would introduce a process where all the IOCs operating in Nigeria will adopt global best environmental practices to guarantee the sustenance of the flora and fauna of communities where they operate even after they had long gone from the country.

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“I will engage the IOCs to stand up and get counted in the area of best environmental practices in 2016. This initiative will help the IOCs to maintain a cordial relationship with the communities where they operate and the communities too will be satisfied with the efforts at the end of the day.”

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