The Federal Government has been urged to sell the state-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna to finance the construction of modular refineries. These refineries are currently managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the government’s oil enterprise......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
The Crude Oil Refiners Association of Nigeria, in a discussion with Sunday PUNCH, suggested that this move is the only viable solution to the country’s ongoing fuel shortages.
For more than a month, Nigerians have been facing long fuel queues at filling stations, and the pump price has reached as high as N1,000 per litre in certain regions.
Despite assurances from the NNPC, the queues persist, driving up transportation costs.
CORAN recommends NNPC refinery sales
Eche Idoko, the Publicity Secretary of CORAN, expressed concern that despite the Federal Government spending over $1 billion on rehabilitating the Port Harcourt refinery, it has yet to commence production after six delays.
He highlighted that Nigeria’s fuel crisis stems from an insufficient supply of refined products, with the cost of importing fuel using foreign exchange placing a significant burden on the government, particularly when subsidies are involved.
Idoko argued that the persistent fuel queues will only be resolved when the country begins refining its crude oil domestically by supporting modular refineries.
He suggested that these modular refineries should receive intervention funds, which would also allow the government to hold stakes in them.
He said:
“If the government supported these 15 modular refineries to produce PMS, in about 12 months or less, they would have solved this problem of fuel scarcity, rather than say, you are putting money into the Port Harcourt refinery, Warri refinery, or Kaduna refinery.
“Most of them are obsolete. Technology has changed. I would have said that the government should sell them off.”
Idoko noted that in nations with self-sufficiency, the oil refinery sector is primarily driven by the private sector.
FG gives conditions for licensing new refineries
In related news, Legit earlier reported that the federal government had stated that new modular refinery owners would get financial backing.
Heineken Lokpobiri, the minister of petroleum resources (Oil), stated that the government will give priority to refinery owners in the award of oil licenses.
He revealed this during the inspection of the Waltersmith modular refinery in Imo state.