FG strikes deal with Oil Majors to revamp refineries

 

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu said Tuesday that some Oil Majors have shown commitment to partner the Federal government to revamp its ailing oil refineries.

He listed Chevron, Total and ENI as the three multinational oil companies that have shown interest to work with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to boost the nation’s capacity for refined petroleum products.

Nigeria has been trying to restart its outdated refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna to end its dependency on costly fuel imports. The state oil corporation had managed to repair the pipelines feeding the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, though these had often come under attacks by oil thieves parading as militants.

“We have gotten commitments from some of the majors. (ENI’s) Agip has indicated interest to work with us on Port Harcourt, Chevron on Warri,” he told the Senate or upper house. “We are talking to Total on Kaduna.”

“We are advertising just in case there are better terms out there,” he said, adding that NNPC was also seeking partners to run pipelines and fuel depots as joint ventures.

Nigeria has been plagued by scarcity of refined petroleum products since the beginning of the year with citizens and industries constrained to pay black market rates for energy needs.

Attempts to unbundle the NNPC weeks ago met with stiff resistance by oil and gas workers prompting the federal government to rename the entire project a ‘reorganisation’.

Dr Kachikwu had also ran into trouble when he, out of frustration, told a beleaguered nation that he was no magician and that Nigerians ought to be grateful for his interventions so far. That statement earned him a reprimand by a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

 

Ripples Nigeria…without borders, without fears

 

 

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now