Petroleum minister says it will cost $700m to fix the nation's three petrol refineries

MINISTER of state for petroleum Dr Ibe Kachikwu has revealed that the federal government will need as much as $700m to upgrade the nation’s three refineries to get them to perform up to 90% capacity.

 

Over recent months, Nigeria has been plagued with a chronic petrol shortage due to limited capacity, leading to lengthy queues at filing stations. Because the country's three refineries in Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri are all operating below capacity, the petroleum ministry is heavily dependent on petrol imports to address the shortfall.

 

Speaking yesterday when he visited Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State for the re-commissioning of the crude line from Bonny to the Port Harcourt refinery, Dr Kachikwu said the country was embracing a creative way of bringing in investors. He pointed out that such investors would work with Nigerians on the ground to reactivate and upgrade the refineries, adding that they would be paid through the flow-out of refined products.

 

Dr Kachikwu added: “We are not inviting foreign partners to take over the refineries but we do not have the funds to upgrade them. Even now that the refineries are working, they are probably working at about 60% capacity, so we need to upgrade them and let them develop to the point where they can perform up to 90% capacity.

 

“So, the best thing to do is to find a very creative way to bring in investors, who will come in, work with our team here, who have the skills, reactivate and upgrade facilities in this place and help us provide technical support and they would be paid through the flow-out of the refined products over time. There is no confusion about what they are coming to do as they are not coming to run the refinery but are coming to provide funds to take our performance on these refineries to 90% and to provide us with technical skills."

 

He apologised to Nigerians for the challenge being faced due to scarcity of fuel. Explaining that the federal government was putting measures in place to tackle the problem of fuel scarcity, Dr Kachikwu stated that the government was not going to give up on the issue.

 

According to Dr Kachikwu, while the refineries were currently producing 12m litres of petrol, the nation consumed about 45m litres a day. According to Dr Kachikwu, the refinery in Warri has started working while the one in Kaduna will start production at the end of the month.