By Philip Nwosu
Chairman Board of Trustees of the Crude Oil Refiners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), Emmanuel Iheanacho, has called for encouragement for greater investment in the establishment of modular refineries in Nigeria, as a step to improving the oil and gas downstream sector.
Iheanacho, who is also the chairman of Eko Refineries and Integrated Oil & Gas Nigeria Ltd., told newsmen in Lagos that having efficient crude oil refining capacity in modular refineries would address a core energy need to support transportation and businesses that require energy for their daily operations.
Making an analogy with the United States of America, Iheanacho said “Modular refineries are the logical way to go as it would help in improving the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
“Let me start by comparing ourselves to America for instance. America is a huge country; it is about one and a half times the population of Nigeria. It has 139 fully functional refineries. And Nigeria has four refineries that are not working. Again, let us look at Texas, which is about the size of Lagos. How many refineries does it have? Thirty-Two. How many refineries does Lagos have? None.
“So, we have a long way to go. It means we must have means of refining petroleum products, so that we can provide transportation to move goods and services and provide the energy resources to power our industries. These are the basic things that we need.
“If we suspend them and give priority to other areas of our economy, we would not get the benefits that we are entitled to. So, first and foremost, provide energy resources, provide the lighting. These are the things that modular refineries can do.
“The government should actually take into considering the need to have more modular refineries to work in tandem with Dangote refinery when it begins to produce, because government refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna have not been working. This is why we need the private sector input, in the conception of modular refineries and the operation of these facilities.”
Commending President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the fuel subsidy, Iheanacho described the subsidy regime as ‘a total waste’. He said the subsidy regime failed to benefit the poor it was meant to support to get affordable transportation.
“Let’s talk about the subsidy issue; it was a total waste. Subsidy was maintained because the masses were supposed to benefit from cheap transportation as a result of subsidy on petroleum products. But the truth of the matter is that the poor people were not benefitting from it at all.
“So, those who drove into a fuel station in their private cars and bought as much as they wanted were the ones who benefitted from the fuel subsidy. The masses who were stuck in buses that could buy a maximum of like 100 litres did not benefit from it. And nothing compelled the private car owner to give people a ride as he drives along because he had bought government- subsidised fuel.”
Iheanacho, however, highlighted that the masses were yet feeling the gains of the fuel subsidy removal because pricing and volumes were still being dictated rather than being left to market forces to determine.
“We are not surprised that subsidy was removed. But people are disappointed because prices are rising as the expected changes have not fully manifested. A part of the problem is that people are still fiddling with the pricing of petroleum products. The price of petroleum products is not supposed to be dictated by anyone, the volume that is supplied in the market is not supposed to be dictated by anyone.