The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has announced that the ongoing rehabilitation of the Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (KRPC) will be completed to commence operations by the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to a press statement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, this was made known by Lokpobiri during an inspection tour of Kaduna Refinery & Petrochemicals while assessing the progress of work on the ongoing quick-fix project of the Refinery in Kaduna on Saturday.
Lokpobiri said he is confident that the refinery will be restreamed by the end of 2024, considering the “significant level of progress” he has witnessed on the tour.
Key players to be held accountable
The Minister, who observed that he would continue to hold key players involved in the rehabilitation process of the nation’s refineries accountable, also pledged Federal Government support in ensuring the timely delivery of the project.
According to the Minister, there is an urgent need to get the refinery back on stream for the nation’s economic prosperity and energy security, which are both paths to sustainable development.
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NNPC Group CEO reassures the Minister
Speaking at the occasion, the Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NNPC Ltd., Mele Kyari, reassured the Minister that the fuel plant at the refinery will be delivered by the end of 2024.
Kyari said that all hands are on deck to bring the refinery back on stream, stressing that the contractor has since mobilized to the site and the needed equipment for the quick-fix activities is already in place.
He stated, “We are very confident that we will get the appropriate financing to get to the end of it, and ultimately, we will start to deliver value to Nigerians again. We plan the quick fix for 60,000 barrels per day so that we can start making money from this plant and we can continue the other part of the refinery to bring it up to its full-fledged capacity. This will also tally with the completion of the Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) on the pipeline so as to have a reliable pipeline delivery infrastructure.’’
The inspection tour, which was preceded by the 14th Refineries Rehabilitation Steering Committee Meeting, also had in attendance NNPC Limited’s Executive Vice President, Downstream, Adedapo Segun; Executive Vice President, Upstream, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan; Managing Directors of the three refineries; and a host of other members of the Committee.
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Backstory
The NNPC had in February signed a $741 million maintenance service contract with a South Korean engineering firm, Daewoo Engineering and Construction Company Limited for a quick fix repair of Kaduna Refinery and Petroleum Company (KRPC).
Recall that in October 2022, the state-owned oil company and Daewoo signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to rehabilitate the 110, barrels per day Kaduna Refinery. Daewoo Group is also involved in ongoing rehabilitation works at the Warri refinery which is expected to start working by 2023.
What you should know
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had earlier in August 2021, approved the sum of $1.4 billion for the rehabilitation of Warri and Kaduna refineries.
The NNPC had already contracted Italy’s Maire Tecnimont SpA to rehabilitate 2 of its refineries in the oil hub of Port Harcourt that have a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels-a-day, with the project being primarily funded with a $1 billion loan from the Cairo-headquartered African Export–Import Bank (Afeximbank).
