As stakeholders agitate for local refining of petroleum products, the federal government has said it was working to achieve 1.4 million barrels per day of domestic refining of crude oil before the year 2027.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva said the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is committed to increasing the country’s domestic capacity to reduce the reliance on imports to meet the daily consumption by Nigerians.
Sylva spoke in Lagos at the ongoing Nigerian Content Midstream and Downstream Oil and Gas Summit organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Lagos.
He was corroborated by the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Wabote who said with the various rehabilitation projects being carried out on different refineries, the target is realistic.
The theme of the summit is: “Maximising potential in the midstream and downstream oil and gas sector – A local content perspective.”
The minister who disclosed that Nigeria has adopted gas as its transition fuel in line with the global energy transition disclosed that the NCDMB has built partnerships to grow domestic refining capacity.
He said: “Waltersmith Refinery, Azikel Refinery and Atlantic Refinery are some of the partnerships that NCDMB has built to grow domestic refining capacity.
“This is in line with the vision of the board to be the catalyst for the industrialisation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage.
“Nigeria has adopted gas as its transition fuel towards actualising its net-zero carbon emission and was supporting critical projects to that effect.
“The projects included the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Train 7, Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline, Nigeria/Morocco Gas Pipeline, TransSaharan Pipeline and the National Gas Transportation Network Code.
“I am looking forward to a productive dialogue between the various stakeholders in this forum.
“I also expect that at the end of this, we would have broadened our knowledge of the Nigerian content opportunities associated with the midstream and downstream sectors.
“We must find ways to unlock the natural gas and domestic production potential of Nigeria and drag millions of our people out of energy poverty.”
The ES added that with the ongoing rehabilitation of the existing four national refineries and its support for private-owned greenfield and modular refineries in the country, the “Combined refining capacity of more than 1.4mbpd is expected from these focus areas within the next five years.”
He added, “About 400,000bpd is expected from the rehabilitation of NNPC refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna using target performance of not less than ninety per cent of nameplate capacity.
“The greenfield element of the roadmap covers the 650,000bpd Dangote Refinery in Lagos and the 200,000bpd BUA Refinery in Akwa Ibom,” said Wabote.
