Uche Usim, Abuja
Efforts to end massive fuel importation were unveiled, on Tuesday, as the Federal Government said it plans to establish a 100,000-barrels-per-day brownfield refinery in Port-Harcourt and Warri, as part of its refinery collocation initiative designed to boost local refining capacity.
This was disclosed by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in a press release by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu.
On efforts being made to achieve self-sufficiency in local refining besides the rehabilitation of the refineries, Ughamadu explained that a group of investors had commenced the process of relocating a refinery that used to be owned by BP from Turkey to Nigeria to be installed near the Port Harcourt Refinery under the NNPC refinery collocation initiative.
“Our collocation initiative aimed at getting private sector investors to bring in brownfield refineries so that they can share facilities is also yielding results.
“For example, there is one that is going to be brought in from Turkey to be located near the Port-Harcourt Refinery. It’s not a modular refinery; it’s a normal refinery with about 100,00bpd capacity. It was owned by BP, but it has been sold off now to the companies that want to bring it over from Turkey to install it here”, he stated.
He said similar plan to establish a brownfield refinery near the Warri Refinery was also in the offing.
“There is another one of about the same size being looked at to be sited near the Warri Refinery. But the one for Port-Harcourt is at a more advanced stage. Our drive at the NNPC, as a leader in the industry, is to expand our local refining capacity and make Nigeria a global refining hub”, he said.