Kachikwu, also said the imminent recovery of refining capacity of the
four refineries owned and operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) in Warri, Kaduna, and Port Harcourt, were part of the
expected exert pressure on the country’s oil production which is
currently around 2.3 million barrels per day (mb).
Government’s statistics had indicated
Nigeria currently has a 445,000 barrels a day refining capacity solely
accounted for by the NNPC’s four refineries.
This number is however projected to rise with the coming on stream of
refineries such as the 650,000 barrels a day Dangote refinery; the Omsa
Pillar Astex Company (OPAC) refinery in Delta; as well as the 12,000
barrels a day Azikel refinery, amongst others.
Kachikwu, however stated at a recent
meeting at the State House in Abuja, where Nigeria and Niger Republic
penned agreements to build a 150,000 barrels a day refinery in Katsina,
that with crude supplies from Niger, as well as other refineries coming
up, there would be little for exports.
He specifically predicted Nigeria could have challenges providing crude oil for the refineries when they all become operational.
He specifically predicted Nigeria could have challenges providing crude oil for the refineries when they all become operational.
His predictions were however supported
by industry experts who suggested an immediate passage of the Petroleum
Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) currently with President Muhammadu
Buhari for assent, and other associate bills would pave the way for
investments into more oil production and reserves increase.
“First you have the Agip refinery that studies are ongoing in Bayelsa
that should cover the South-south corridor. You have the Port Harcourt
refinery which when they finish refurbishing covers South-south and
South-east.
“The Warri and Kaduna are all there
including the Dangote in Lagos. About three marginal refineries with two
coming on stream and seven with a potential of coming on stream over
the next two years. Very soon our problem would be finding sufficient
crude to match the requirements of a lot of these refineries,” said
Kachikwu, in response to a question on refineries’ projects in the
country.
He also spoke about the decision by
Nigeria to partner Niger in the new border refinery project, as well as
considerations for security in northern Nigeria, which has had
terrorists’ attacks across its states in the last few years.
“The decision is to do a pipeline from Niger Republic into a Nigerian
border town and construct a refinery with capacity probably between
100,000 and 150,000 barrels a day but it is all dependent on the
Nigerien crude volumes.
“It depends on what they find, currently
their number is enough to support about 60 to 70,000 barrels per day
but lots of field that have been capped will be opened. We hope that as
the project goes over the next two years, we will probably have more
feed-stock to power a much bigger refinery,” the minister said.
He added: “It is Katsina and there is a potential for extension to
Kaduna. Bear in mind this started first from wanting to build a pipeline
from Niger to Kaduna refinery. At the board of NNPC we shut that down
because the asset quality of the crude from Niger was not the same as
our own quality crude.
“We decided to do a refinery that is targeted at the quality of their
crude. The shorter the distance, the shorter the pipeline, the smaller
the cost required for construction. So, that was the basis for
selection.”
On concerns about insecurity, he said: “If we bother about insecurity we
are not going to make progress. The security issues are there, we will
deal with them. Niger hasn’t faced much of a security issue in terms of
finding its crude, the distance in the pipeline corridor is going to be
short and hopefully technology will bury it sufficiently not to be an
issue.”
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