The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Mele Kyari has explained that Federal Government’s support for private refinery initiatives is part of the strategies to return Nigeria to being a net exporter of petrol.
Kyari who warned that security of supply cannot be guaranteed with external resources said the government has a number of initiatives to ensure that Nigeria’s energy needs are met.
The GMD in an interview with a national newspaper recently said FG’s condensate refinery initiatives are estimated to produce about a combined capacity of 200,000 barrels of condensate. Adding that he was optimistic that this in addition to Dangote 650, 000 barrels per day and our would guarantee energy security for the country.
The GMD who described FG’s interest in the Dangote refinery as being ‘for very strategic national reasons’ said the major problem with dependency on importation of petroleum products is that anything can happen along the value chain.
He said, “Whenever you have a situation where you become a net importer of petroleum, you are in trouble, you know anything can happen along the value chain as long as you are far away from the source of supply.
“So the coming on the table of the Dangote refinery and very many other refinery initiatives will first of all guarantee that this country returns to a net exporter of petroleum in the short term. What that will do is to guarantee security of supply such that we don’t rely on external resources and sources to get our energy needs satisfied. So we see the Dangote refinery as an opportunity, and there are many other opportunities.
Speaking about other initiatives by the government, Kyari said, “Also, we are doing something about what we call a condensate refinery. What that means is that the condensate resources we have which are very easy to convert to fuel, not like a typical refinery but it does work very quickly.
“It can put you on the deck and then we can also convert up to 90 per cent of the feedstock into for instance the light petroleum products. We have gotten commitments by one of our partners to take FID in June or July, so that we know that we are doing that because it is almost like the off-the-shelf kind of arrangement.
“But it is something that you can get into work in two years. So we have four other initiatives of that nature, combined capacity of probably getting 200,000 barrels of condensate.
“The combination of that with the Dangote 650, 000 barrels per day and our refineries that we are fixing can guarantee energy security for the country.
“Once you have that combo of opportunities, you will see Nigeria becoming a net exporter of gasoline (petrol) to the West African countries, the whole of Africa within our view and probably reverse the flow of products.
“Because it comes from Europe not because Europe is the source of petroleum but because the processing facilities are there and once you see this market dynamics the only thing that is going to reverse is freight. And you can see the flow of petroleum products coming from Nigeria even into Europe, that is possible within a short term,” Kyari said.
Peace Obi
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