The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has explained why the over 40 licensed modular refineries in the country are not producing Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.
Nigeria has a number of modular refineries in Edo, Delta, Imo and other states, while plans are on to increase the number through private sector investments.
However, according to NNPC, the modular refineries are avoiding petrol because of the regulated pump price.
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This was disclosed by Mustapha Yakubu, Group Executive Director, Refining, and NNPC on Wednesday at the Nigeria International Energy Summit 2022.
A modular refinery is a simplified refinery requiring significantly less capital investment than traditional full-scale refineries.
They are crude oil processing facilities with capacities of up to 30,000 barrels per day.
He said, “Some modular refineries should take up to 50,000 barrels per day, but because of financing you can start with 10,000 barrels and then scale up gradually to 50,000 barrels.
“What do you need to do to produce PMS? It is to put additional investment that will put in the cracker required to produce the PMS. But in this period why they (modular refineries) cannot produce PMS is because we are under full regulation,” he added.