Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has said the decision to continue with the shutdown of the Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries is part of the ongoing efforts to reposition them.
The NNPC boss said that the corporation had decided to shut down all of its refineries in order to develop a model to upgrade them and secure enough funding for them.
Although the GMD said they have secured funding for the maintenance, he did not provide details. Note that the corporation had previously entered into several unsuccessful agreements with oil traders.
He said that the NNPC was looking at a different model for refineries, such as that used by the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
“We made a very conscious decision to shut down our refineries. Today, after proper scoping, which was done in the past, we know exactly what to do to get them back on stream. We have also secured financing to make sure they work optimally.
“Aside from proper scoping, we are also going to have an Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contract, a different model of getting the refineries to work. We are looking at the NLNG structure where world-class processes will always be in play. We’ve seen it work with success.”
It could be recalled that in January this year, the Nigerian senate, resolved to probe the corporation over the sum of $396 million which was spent on turn-around maintenance of the refineries, between 2013 and 2015, without any positive result, as the country has continuously imported almost all its petroleum product needs.
Members of the upper chamber expressed their displeasure at the moribund state of these refineries in the last 15-20 years, due to lack of proper maintenance.
These refineries have hardly operated at more than 15% capacity utilization per annum.