Ejiofor Alike
The Group Managing Director of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Anthony Iheanacho has said that the company would conclude the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies for its 20,000 barrels per day modular refinery in the next few weeks.
The refinery is the first of its kind to be undertaken by any private marketer of petroleum products in Nigeria.
He said as soon as the EIA was completed and all the requisite approvals obtained, the company would embark on the construction of the refinery, which would initially produce diesel, export quality Naphtha, kerosene, fuel oil and aviation fuel.
Iheanacho, who conducted journalists around the project site in Tomaro Island part of Lagos at the weekend, explained that work had not started because all the approvals had not been obtained and the EIA not concluded.
He however, stated that the company had drawn up the front end engineering design (FEED) and submitted to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
“We are waiting for Approval to Construct (ATC). We will organise stakeholders workshop on Tuesday (today) in Lagos where federal, State and local government’s agencies will rub minds together with the communities. It is a workshop where the federal government will be convinced that the communities are happy with the project and not opposed to it. After the workshop, the next stage is a public hearing. That is where journalists will also be invited. The outcome of the stakeholders’ workshop will form part of the presentations at the public hearing. I was talking with our consultant today and he said that the EIA process will be through in about 10 weeks,” Iheanacho explained.
He refuted earlier reports that work was ongoing at the refinery, stressing that the company must comply with all extant regulations before embarking on the construction of the plant.
Iheanacho said the report that the company was engaged in construction and that buildings in the area were cracking was mischievous and intended to malign the reputation of the company.
“If you look very well, the only thing you can see is the fence we did not prevent encroachment; it is a demarcation fence and nothing else has been done expect the fence. We are still in the process of EIA. We have concluded the dry season data collection. After the wet season data collection, we will start work. EIA is the basic thing you must do in a project of this nature before you start work,” Iheanacho added.
He also refuted insinuations that the host communities were aggrieved and pointed out that the communities had apologised to the company over the false report authored by a resident of one of the communities purporting to be acting on behalf of the people of the area.
“You read the strange story from one funny fellow that we had commenced work. You have seen for yourself that we have not started any work. Nothing is going on here. What we did was to clear the site so that when you stand here, you can see everywhere; so that when our partners also come, they can see through. But for now, no construction work has commenced,” Iheanacho explained.
