The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe- Kachikwu, on Wednesday said the Federal Government would consider establishing new refineries for optimal performance of the oil sector.
Kachikwu stated this while speaking to journalists in Kaduna shortly after he was conducted round the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company.
The GMD, however, said the corporation was working to get the refineries across the country to work to their optimal production with new business modules.
He said, “What is obtainable is that most of our refineries are close to 30 to 40 years old; we need to begin to look at building new refineries in the same land space where they can share facilities so that you will have something to lean on when these old ones are beginning to kick out.
“Obviously, we need new modules. Three out of the six units of the plants are down. Some of them for a very long period. We need to sit down and see what modules; how do you turn around the new refineries; how do you work on emergency basis components of the ones that are there.
“Kaduna has a very unique place in my heart like I said because I grew up in Kano and I used to come here often. It is so key for the survival of the economy of Kaduna State and the rest of the North and we really need to focus on getting these things to work and getting them to expand.
“Without them, we are not going to get out of problems of fuel supply, power supply and all that. So, we are going to have a whole commercial structure, a whole engineering structure; a lot needs to be done different from models we are pursuing right now.”
He said the NNPC management was committed to ensuring that within the next 90 days, some elements of the KRPC plant would work the way they would be expected.
Kachikwu also spoke on the security of the pipelines, saying, “As you are aware that we are working with the security forces to enhance the Warri to Kaduna points and they have been tested now for integrity and I think by my understanding for the last testing, it is fairly okay now to take control if the FCC units are working.
“So, on a short-term basis, we have been able to deal with that medium-term basis; we are going to work with the security agencies to ensure that the sort of destruction you find on pipelines not just from Warri to Kaduna, but the whole country, becomes a thing of the past.
On the issue of crude oil swap deals, the NNPC boss said that the essence of the cancellation was that the company was saving over $200m.
He said, “Even though we have cancelled swap, you are going to have replacement swap contracts lined along very efficient and very transparent processes that will save us a lot of money.” Agency report
