NNPC boss assures 2 Nigeria's refineries will restart production in two weeks

dimeji akinloye

December 17, 2015 7:06 PM

He noted that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) equity production was 99,000 barrels per day.

Ibe kachikwu, MD, NNPC

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has assured that two out of Nigeria’s four refineries will restart production in two weeks.

He disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday, Dec. 17 in a statement signed by the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Ohi Alegbe.

Kachikwu identified issue of funding as a major challenge to the sector, noting that this would be addressed with adequate collaboration with the private and international investors.

“Efforts are on to engage private investors to build new refineries within the old ones to enable the refineries share power, pipelines and other resources,” he said.

He stated that the average gas to power generation was about 3,000 megawatts and domestic gas supply of one billion standard cubic feet (scf) with the contribution of 600 million standard cubic feet from NPDC.

READ: We will focus on price modulation, not subsidy removal - Kachikwu

The Minister expressed hopes that two of the refineries might be re-streamed before the end of December.

He said his cancellation of the Offshore Processing Agreements (OPAs), crude-for-products-exchange arrangement (popularly known swap) and other unprofitable product and crude arrangements was in a bid to avoid rent seekers - which would help to add value to the Nigerian hydrocarbon resources.

Kachikwu assured that the petroleum sector, under his leadership, would ensure that the Nigeria Content policy would transform the Oil and Gas industry into the economic engine for job creation and national growth.

dimeji akinloye