The Federal Government has acquired shares in four refineries operating in various locations in the country.
The refineries include the 650,000 barrels per day integrated Dangote Refinery in Lagos; 12,000bpd Azikel Modular Refinery in Bayelsa; 5,000bpd Waltersmith Modular Refinery in Imo; and 2,500bpd Duport Modular Refinery in Edo.
According to the government, the 60,000bpd component of the Port Harcourt Refining Company in Rivers State, would begin operations in the first quarter of this year, stressing that the facility had been completed.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, disclosed this in Abuja at the ministerial scorecard series of the current administration.
On the equity of the Federal Government in Dangote Refinery, Sylva said it was 20 per cent, adding that the government had also bought shares in three other refineries.
He said, “We have 20 per cent equity in Dangote Refinery and we have also taken 20 per cent equity in Azikel Refinery. We took 30 per cent in Waltersmith, and we also have 30 per cent in Duport Refinery.
“Duport Refinery is already finished. They’ve concluded the construction. It only remains to start operations. I’m sure that within the next one month or so, Duport Refinery will also start operations.”
He added that the Dangote Refinery already had an established contract with NNPC, in terms of crude oil supply, but noted that some modular refineries usually accessed crude oil from assets closer to the plants.
He stated:“So they (modular refineries) have this (crude oil supply) contract with private sector owners of these assets that are near them”.
He spoke on the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery,saying the target date for the commencement of operations of the plant had been shifted to the first quarter of this year.