Latest update from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria’s oil and gas industry regulator, has listed the 7,000bpd OPAC refinery in Kwale, Delta State as Nigeria’s likely third functioning, privately-run refinery.
The Department said the refinery has been completed and waiting commissioning.
The 7,000 barrels per-stream-a-day capacity OPAC Refinery is among the few modular refineries approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, as part of the government’s strategy to gradually end Nigeria’s dependence on foreign refiners for petroleum products.
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Under construction are two others: The 500,000bpd Dangote refinery, which is 71% completed, the DPR‘s report update, as well as the 6,000bpd Edo Refinery, said to be almost completed. Contrary to popular records in the media, referring to the Dangote Refinery as one with a 650,000bpd capacity, the DPR referred to it as a 500,000BPD facility.
DPR said that aside of the refineries at Edo, Kwale, the 5,000bpd Waltersmith Refinery in Ibigwe, the 11,000 BOPD Ogbele Expanded Refinery, and the Dangote Refinery no other refinery is being constructed in Nigeria.
The Waltersmith Refinery was commissioned by President Buhari on November 24, 2020, speaking virtually to a packed audience including two state governors, a host of traditional rulers, heads of oil and gas regulatory agencies (NNPC, NCDMB), local CEOs of oil majors and independent E&P companies as well as oil service companies.
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“No other refinery is under construction in the country today, despite the widespread perception in the press that a number of refineries are under construction,” DPR said.
It said that the widely publicized Elko Petrochem & Refining Company is not yet under construction, according to the DPR update. The Petrolex Oil and Gas refinery, for which an ‘authority to construct’ (ATC), was granted in December 2018, is still in the pipeline.
In all, there are 16 proposed refineries that have been granted authoritisation for construction, but are not in construction stage, the report said.
By Chibisi Ohakah, Abuja
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