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Tag: Refinery

  • FG set to establish 2 modular refineries in Niger Delta

    The Federal Government is making progress on the establishment of modular refineries with the arrival of one set of package shipment already in the country and undergoing Customs clearance.

    The Niger Delta Inter-Ministerial Committee, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, informed members at its presentation meeting in Abuja that the refinery would be installed in Delta.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President on Saturday indicated that another set of refinery equipment would arrive the country in April and would be installed in Rivers.

    The operation of the modular refineries would include the involvement of communities where they are located.

    Osinbajo said this would ensure that communities benefit directly from the refineries which would help create jobs and engage youths in the region.

    NAN recalls that in December 2017, the Inter-Ministerial Committee received a report that 38 licensed privately-financed greenfield and mini-modular refineries’ investors had so far indicated interests in the establishment of refineries in the region.

    At that event, no fewer than 10 of the licensed investors were at an advanced stage of development.

    Also, the NDDC reported at the meeting its progress in the implementation of its projects in the region.

    It stated that in 2017, a total of 372 projects covering roads, bridges, electricity, water, amongst others, were completed by the commission.

    The development projects include the 25.7 km Nembe-Ogbia road, which would be inaugurated soon; the construction of Otueke Internal roads in Ogbia LGA, Bayelsa; Kira Dere Mogho road and Bridge in Gokana LGA, Rivers.

    It also includes the construction of Iselu-Okaigben-Idung-Boko-Onicha Ugbo road, in Edo/Delta States; the Orie Ukwu Amaoji market road, Isiala Ngwa North LGA, Abia State and the Ashikem-Ufono-Betwaswan road in Obudu, Cross River.

    The Commission is also working with all related parties, including AMCON, to ensure the establishment of 6,000 barrels per day Amakpe modular refinery to be installed in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.

    The NDDC said it had established Job Placement centres expected to engage about 208,000 youths in the Niger Delta.

    To help reduce unemployment and youth restiveness in the region, the NDDC centres would match existing vacancies with available skills within the region.

    On the progress of Ogoni clean-up, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) under the Ministry of Environment, is set to commence the procurement process for contracting experts for the remediation and clean-up of impacted sites.

    This process is open to competent national and international companies involved in environment, water and livelihood projects.

    The final draft of the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP), which provides a framework for the development of the Niger Delta, was also submitted to the committee.

    Meamwhile, the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta, is set to admit students into the institution for the 2017/2018 academic year, and start lectures in April.

    A total of 196 students have so far been accepted into the University while 76 applications were pending.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had approved an increase in the take-off grant allocated to the University from the N2 billion earlier announced to N5 billion

    This sum was included in the 2018 budget presented to the National Assembly in November 2017.

    Similarly, an additional N1 billion was approved by the President to support essential infrastructure works and staff recruitment in the University in November 2017.

    The Delta State Government has also donated two 500KVA generators to the University.

    The Maritime University was granted approval in January by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to commence undergraduate degree programmes in three faculties namely: Transport, Engineering and Environmental Management, beginning with 13 departments from the 2017/2018 academic session.

    In attendance at the meeting were the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani; Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jubril; and the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Nsima Ekere.

    Also in attendance were the Director-General, Nigeria Maritime Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside; and the Special Adviser to the President on the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd).

    Others include the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Adamu A. Rasheed; the Vice-Chancellor of the Maritime University, Prof. Mrs. Ongoebi Etebu; and representatives of other relevant MDAs.

     

  • Dangote Group trains 150 indigenous engineers in refinery operations

    Dangote Group trains 150 indigenous engineers in refinery operations

    The Management of Dangote Oil Refinery Company (DORC) says about 150 indigenous engineers have been trained in refinery operations in preparation for the take-off of its Lagos Refinery and Petrochemical Plant.

    Mr Mohan Kumar, the company’s Director of Human Capital Management and Project Support, made this known at a news conference in Lagos on Monday while presenting 22 engineers who returned from Mumbai, India.

    Kumar said the young engineers were trained at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. in India on how to manage the operations of the refinery.

    He added that the engineers had gathered fundamental practical knowledge about refinery.

    According to him, the engineers are recruited and trained to witness the building of the refinery from scratch.

    He said the engineers spent two months in classroom training and three months on the job training.

    Kumar explained that the 22 engineers were trained by experts who had over 45 years experience in refinery operations, stressing that the training became imperative due to the commitment of Dangote Group to promote local content by developing indigenous capacity.

    He added that “the engineers are expected to also transfer the skills acquired to other Nigerians when the refinery takes off.

    “The 22 engineers arrived from Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Mumbai in India, where the last set of 150 employees trained in various areas of petroleum and petrochemical refining.’’

    Kumar noted that another set of 600 engineers would be sent for training before the end of April.

    According to him, the refinery will produce 780 Kilo Tonnes Per Annum (KTPA) of Polypropylene, 500 KTPA of Polyethylene, while the fertiliser project will produce 3.0 million tonnes of urea per annum.

    He explained that “the refinery will also have the largest sub-sea pipeline infrastructure in the world with capacity to handle three billion cubic metres of oil annually.”

    Dangote Refinery is expected to save Nigeria 12 billion dollars annual import substitution and create 4,000 direct jobs, as well as reduce prices of petroleum products after completion.

    The project is located in Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos State on a vast land mass of 2,200 hectares, an area eight times bigger than the entire Victoria Island in Lagos.

     

  • Nigeria, Niger Republic partner to construct refinery in Katsina

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu on Wednesday signed an agreement with the President of the Republic of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou and the Energy Minister of the Republic of Niger, Mr. Foumakoye Gado to construct a refinery in the border town between the Republic of Niger and Katsina State.

    According to a statement by the ministry, “A mutually beneficial agreement was reached for the construction of a refinery in the border town between the Republic of Niger and Katsina State, Nigeria and a crude oil pipeline from the Republic of Niger to the new refinery. The statement added that, definitive bilateral and technical agreements to be signed in coming days.

    According to the statement, in line with the commitment to collaborative work across the region to ensure definitive solutions to the challenges of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

    Recall that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recently announced that it is inching closer to arriving at the choice of financiers for the Port Harcourt Refining Company Limited (PHRC), Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC) and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited.

    The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru who disclosed this while briefing members of staff of the corporation on the fuel supply situation in the country said the agreements on the potential financiers for the refineries were being fine-tuned.

    “We are pushing towards the final selection of our financiers and we expect that when that is done, we’ll get the agreements and present them to our board, meeting this month to secure their endorsement and once we have the funding, we would start the rehabilitation of the refineries towards a 90 per cent capacity utilization per stream day before the end of 2019,” Dr. Baru affirmed.

  • FG urges Dangote to stop fuel importation by 2019

    FG urges Dangote to stop fuel importation by 2019

    The Federal Government has urged Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote group, to make sure that he achieves his target of ending fuel importation in the country by December 2019.

    Minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, made the call when he visited the Dangote oil refinery site at Lekki free trade zone, Lagos state, on yesterday.

    He said there would be more chances of meeting the 2019 target if the group is able to complete its refinery before the date.

    He also said the government was ready to play its part as a responsible government to assist in making sure the project is completed before the scheduled date.

    Kachikwu stated he has made a very firm commitment to Nigerians that importation of petroleum products will stop by 2019.

    Responding, Dangote said with the minister’s assurance of government’s cooperation and support, the company would do all it could to complete the refinery in due time.

    He said the company would go back to the drawing board and see what to do to make the target come to fruition “by fast tracking our processes.”

    Dangote said the group is building the world’s largest single line refinery, the largest sub-sea pipeline infrastructure, petrochemical complex as well as the world’s second largest urea fertiliser plant.

    He said the refinery, when completed, will have the capacity to refine 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day with the petrochemical plant producing 780 KTPA polypropylene, 500 KTPA of polyethylene while the fertiliser project will produce 3.0 million metric tonnes of urea per annum (mmtpa).

  • Indonesia to build refinery in Nigeria

    An Indonesian firm, PT Intim Perkasa Nigeria Ltd, a subsidiary of PT Intim Perkasa, Indonesia, on Wednesday indicated its interest to build a refinery in Nigeria.

    Mr Adi Hartadi, the Head of Investor Relations of the firm gave the indication at a business meeting with the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru in Abuja.

    In a statement Mr Ndu Ughamadu, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, said the Federal Government’s plan to attract investment in modular refineries as part of efforts to boost local refining capacity had started gaining momentum.

    Hartadi disclosed that the proposed refinery would be located in Akwa Ibom State and would have a refining capacity for 10,000 barrels per stream day.

    Hartadi stated that the firm had more than 50 years of experience in construction and engineering designed to diversify into downstream operations in Nigeria.

    Responding, Baru, who was represented by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Refineries and Petrochemicals, Mr Anibor Kragha, said that NNPC placed high premium on investment in the nation’s refining sector.

    Baru said the Corporation had a Greenfield Refinery Department that specialized in new refinery projects and also provided professional support to potential investors in modular refinery in the country in line with the Federal Government’s policy on modular refineries.

    He explained that the country’s three refineries with a combined capacity of 445,000bpd could not function optimally over the years due to lack of investment, adding that NNPC would give necessary support to the Indonesian Company interest in the downstream sector.

    ”On our end, we have embarked on ambitious plan to fast-track programmes to restore our capacity utilization from 30 per cent to a minimum of 90 per cent in the next 24 months.

    ”To do that, we are working on securing financing from third parties, not just funding, but also technical expertise to help us increase our performance to world class levels that they should be,” Baru said.

    He explained that given Nigeria’s expected population, by 2025, more than 40 million litres of petrol would be required for local consumption, adding that the combined capacity of the nation’s refineries would only be able to satisfy just above 50 per cent of the projected local demand.

    He expressed optimism that with this kind of investment coming steadily, Nigeria could serve as a regional hub of refined petroleum products for West Africa and beyond.

    He called on the investors to be mindful of clean fuel policy across African countries and ensure that they produce fuels that met specification with regards to sulphur content.

    The visit was a follow-up to a bilateral meeting between the Indonesian Trade Minister with his Nigerian counterpart as well as the visit of Indonesian Prime Minister to Nigeria.

    The Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Harry Purwanto, had recently expressed interest in purchasing more crude oil from Nigeria during a courtesy call earlier in the year.

     

     

    NAN

     

  • Senate halts concessioning of Port Harcourt refinery over lack of transparency

    The Senate on Tuesday called for the termination of all transactions regarding the concession of Port Harcourt Refinery to AGIP and OANDO.

    The decision follows a motion from Senator Sabo Mohammed (Jigawa South) asking it to investigate how the deal was sealed.

    Complaining that due process of Public Procurement was not followed, he urged the Senate to find out the criteria used to select AGIP/ENI and OANDO PLC to maintain and operate the Port Harcourt refinery as well as the cost and the time-frame for the deal.

    The Nigerian government recently entered into agreement with AGIP, a subsidiary of ENI, an Italian oil concern to construct a $15 billion refinery in the Niger-Delta; a deal which also includes investment from AGIP.

    The agreement according to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu was part of plans to increase local production and end an era of fuel importation.

    “This arrangement would have been wonderful because it would mean an end to importation of refined products by the year 2020, but many questions are begging for answers, such as ‘ is it AGIP/ENI or OANDO Plc that is taking over Port Harcourt refinery?’

    ”Was there the observance of the privization law as regards due diligence, selection from preferred bidders before ceding of the Port Harcourt Refinery to AGIP/OANDO?” he asked, imploring Senate to set up an Ad hoc committee to investigate the deal.

    Speaking on the motion, Senator Dino Melaye representing Kogi West, asked Senate President, Bukola Saraki to rise to the occasion and avert what he described as ” another calamitous corruption,” about to be hatched.

    He said individuals who had milked the country in the past want to continue to do so by stealing what is left of a common patrimony.

    “They’re about to do to us what they did when electricity was fraudulently sold.

    Mr. President, what happened to the concession of Lagos/Ibadan Expressway is about to happen.”

    Mr. President , arise this morning in your valour and stop this massive corruption that is about to take place,” he said.

    Senator Kabiru Gaya from Kano South supports Melaye’s position, wondering how the process of signing the deal was started without involving Bureau of Public Procurement {BPP} as required by law.

    Senate sustains additional prayer from Senator Atai Aidoko, asking it to stop all processes and transaction on the deal pending the outcome of investigation by its probe panel.