The Kaduna Refinery is expected to resume operations by the first quarter of 2023 based on the refinery rehabilitation programme progress and timeline, the Managing Director, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) Engr. Ezekiel Osarolube said on Monday.
Osarolube said the target is to achieve 90 per cent capacity utilization post-rehabilitation, which will increase in-country refining capacity and significantly reduce petroleum products importation, thereby saving the country’s foreign reserves.
Daily Trust reports that the Kaduna Refinery, which was commissioned in 1980 had sustained operations up until 2017 when a major plant failure occurred. The plant according to the MD had only operated for nine days in June 2019 until the available crude oil in the refinery was exhausted.
On the rehabilitation progress, he said: “By our current timeline, we hope to come back by the first quarter of 2023 but like I said, what will take that long is that we need to place an order for some items that will take up to 12 months to manufacture otherwise, fixing these things back when the materials are on ground is a short time. By our current timeline, the first quarter of 2023 is the time we hope to come back in operation.”
The co-chairmen of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Senator Sabo Mohammed Nakudu and Mohammed Tahir Monguno, after the inspection, expressed disappointment that such a grand edifice had been left comatose for years.
Monguno said the current state of the facility further reinforces the need for legislators to pass the PIB with the speed of light.
“Revamping of the facility will generate a lot of multiplier effect on the economy by way of creating employment opportunities and business opportunities.”
