Private investors for revival of local refineries to be announced in March - Kachikwu

macfranc007 February 20, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Tunde Ososanya

- The federal government of Nigeria will be announcing private investors for the survival of Nigeria's refineries in March

- It was reported that multinational oil and gas firms operating in the country would also be compelled to build refineries in Nigeria

- Minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, said that emphasis would shift to local production of substantial portion of the crude oil produced in the country

The minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday, February 19 stated that the federal government will announce the private investors for the revival of the country's refineries in March.

The minister, who made the statement at a session during the ongoing Nigerian International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), said that the government was also considering a policy that would compel multinational oil and gas firms operating in the company to build refineries in Nigeria, Daily Trust reports.

NAIJ.com gathered that Kachikwu said that by that time, international oil firms would no longer be allowed to ship out all the crude oil they produced in Nigeria.

According to the minister, emphasis would shift to local production of substantial portion of the crude oil produced in the country.

It was learnt that no international oil company (IOC) currently owns a refinery or refined petroleum products in the country. But IOCs have shown interest in building one or provide equity funding for the repair of the existing refineries.

The minister said: “We would get to a point where Nigeria, definitely, would be a major supplier of refined petroleum products. It just has to happen. Nothing else makes sense. We are also saying directly to oil companies that a time would also come when we would not be open to see them move around all the crude oil they produce in Nigeria.

“We will like to see integrated refining and integrated processing here. It gives us more jobs and creates more investment.

“Oil has got to provide the resources to power this country; jobs for our people; and the operational environment that is transparent enough for others to take Nigeria serious.

“My target over the next 10 years is for Nigeria to become self-sufficient in its own power provision, gravitate from crude oil as it were, to very refined, clean provision of fossils.

“Nigerian entities and Nigerian shareholders would begin to move from the minuscule 10 per cent today to between 40 and 50 per cent of local investments.”

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers on Monday, January 8, called for the rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries to end the recurring scarcity of petrol in the country.

The petroleum workers described as “ridiculous that for the past 15 years now, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had been spending billions of dollars on Turn Around Maintenance of the refineries with nothing to show for it".

Tayo Aboyeji, the southwest chairman of the union, who made the call in an interview, said: “It is disheartening to know that despite the fact that the nation is a major producer of crude oil, it cannot refine the product for its local consumption."

Fuel scarcity: This is getting too much for us - Nigerians lament - on NAIJ.com TV