From Uche Usim, Abuja
Again, the Federal Government has put the take-off date for the 110,000 bpd-capacity Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical
Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited (KRPC) at the fourth quarter of 2024.
From 2018 till date, the federal government has bandied different dates for commencement of operations for the refineries but none has materialised.
The facility is one of the four refineries in comatose state that has not refined a single barrel of crude for years, yet amassing huge overhead costs on an annual basis.
This has forced the federal government to import petrol from offshore firms, a development that has depleted the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Nonetheless, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, at the weekend, revealed that with the ongoing quick-fix project at the KRPC will bring it back on stream by the end of 2024.
Lokpobiri made the disclosure on an inspection tour of KRPC in Kaduna. He said the refinery will be re-streamed by the end of 2024, considering the “significant level of progress” he has witnessed on the tour.
Mr. Lokpobiri, who observed that he would continue to hold key players involved in the rehabilitation process of the nation’s refineries accountable, also pledged the federal government’s support in ensuring the timely delivery of the project.
According to him, there is an urgent need to get the refinery back on stream for the nation’s economic prosperity and energy security, which are both paths to sustainable development.
In his remarks at the tour, the NNPC Limited’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, reassured the Minister that the fuel plant at the refinery would be delivered by the end of 2024.
Mr. Kyari said that all hands are on deck to bring the refinery back on stream noting that the contractor has since mobilised to the site and the needed equipment for the quick-fix activities is already in place.
“We are very confident that we will get the appropriate financing to get to the end of it, and ultimately, we will start to deliver value to Nigerians again. We plan the quick fix for 60,000 barrels per day so that we can start making money from this plant and we can continue the other part of the refinery to bring it up to its full-fledged capacity.
This will also tally with the completion of the Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) on the pipeline so as to have a reliable pipeline delivery infrastructure,” Mr Kyari was quoted by the statement as saying.
The inspection, which was preceded by the 14th Refineries Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting, according to the statement, also had in attendance NNPC Limited’s Executive Vice President, Downstream, Adedapo Segun; Executive Vice President, Upstream, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan; Managing Directors of the three refineries; and a host of other members of the Committee.
In August 2021, the Federal Executive Council approved the award of the contract for the rehabilitation of Warri and Kaduna Refineries at the combined total sum of $1.5 billion. In February, NNPC Limited signed an agreement with Daewoo Engineering and Construction Nigeria Limited for the rehabilitation of the refinery.