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By Adewale Sanyaolu
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says upon completion of rehabilitation works at its refineries that it will be quitting the management and operations of the nation’s refineries.
Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Mallam Mele Kyari stated this today at the 49th session of the State House Briefing held in Aso Rock, Abuja.
Kyari said NNPC would not again make the mistake of the past 43 years by managing the refineries. Rather, he said, the management of such would be handed over to the Original Manufacturers(OM)
Recall that NNPC had last year secured a N1 billion loan for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery from Afrexim Bank.
The 210,000 barrels per day rehabilitation is currently being carried out by Italy’s Maire Technimont
He said no lender will put such money into a project without being sure of how to recoup returns on investment.
He explained that the assurance by NNPC to Afrexim Bank that it would not run the refinery led to the granting of the facility.
Kyari also disclosed that a reserves company to be floated would henceforth manage the pipelines and strategic reserves for the country.
He explained that this is what obtains in other parts of the world in a bid to guarantee energy security.
