Mr. Andrew Yakubu, GMD, NNPC
Ejiofor Alike
The Federal Government has signed Heads of Agreement (HOA) with reputable international contractors for a comprehensive maintenance of Kaduna and Port Harcourt Refineries.
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Andrew Yakubu, who stated this at a recent oil and gas conference in Lagos, added that the government was concluding the terms contract for the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the Port Harcourt Refinery.
Yakubu noted that the maintenance programmes for Kaduna and Warri refineries were underway.
“The Federal Government is keeping faith with that. As we speak, discussions are almost being concluded for the Port Harcourt Refinery with the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of that refinery. We are at the point of concluding the terms of the contract and that will roll out very soon and Nigerians will start seeing results. We have also gone into heads of agreement with others for Kaduna and Warri,” he said.
The federal government had earlier set a 24-month target for complete turnaround maintenance of the four refineries, which have a capacity to process 445,000barrels of crude oil per day..
The refineries include the Port Harcourt Refining Company, with an installed capacity of 210,000 barrels of crude oil per day; Kaduna Refining and Petrochemicals Company, with a production capacity of 110,000 barrels per day and Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company, with an installed capacity of 125,000 barrels per day.
At the completion of the turnaround of the refineries, the Federal Government would save a large chunk of the huge funds spent on payment of subsidy on imported petroleum products.
Yakubu also stated that negotiations were also ongoing with the Chinese investors for the construction of three new Greenfield refineries to be sited in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi States.
Following the directives from the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, the immediate past Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Austen Oniwon, had begun negotiations with JGC/Tecnimont Consortium, the original contractors that built the Port Harcourt Refinery, for the rehabilitation of the refinery.
The rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery would be followed by Kaduna and Warri, respectively.