Nigeria’s
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, said on
Tuesday that 26 firms have indicated their interest in the revamping of the
nation’s three existing refineries.
Revamping the
three refineries will require an investment of $2 billion.
Kachikwu said
the nation was closed to finalising the process for private partners to revamp
three existing refineries, which would lead to the production of 450,000 bpd.
“We are
almost at a threshold of finalising the process of selection,” he said, adding
that it could announce its selection by January or February.
The minister
also said the Dangote refinery, with capacity to process 650,000 barrels per
day (bpd) of oil being built in Nigeria is due to come onstream by the end of
2019.
“That should
be enough to meet local needs,” Kachikwu told an oil and conference in Cape
Town.
Reuters
reports that the NNPC last year launched bidding to find partners to overhaul
its ailing refineries, which hardly produce any petrol due to decades of
mismanagement and widespread graft, leaving OPEC member Nigeria reliant on
imported oil products.
The
government has previously said it was in talks with Chevron, Total and ENI.
Kachikwu told
reporters that Nigeria aimed to lift oil output in January to 1.8 million bpd
from about 1.6 million to 1.7 million bpd now, but would not breach a ceiling
agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. “If we get
to 1.8 (million), then we need to say ‘hey, close off the taps, because we need
to comply,” he said.
He also said
oil prices were now encouraging but OPEC had not ruled out further cuts to
shore up the market.
“The market
is balancing fast …. But do we need to see more cuts? We’ll see,” he said.
OPEC, Russia
and other producers cut oil output by about 1.8 million bpd since January. The
pact runs to March 2018, but they are considering extending it.
Source: Today.ng
No comments: