Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum
resources, says about $1.2 billion is needed to repair
the three refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC).

Speaking at a news briefing in Abuja on Thursday,
Kachikwu said reports of the concession of Port
Harcourt refinery to Oando and Agip companies were
untrue.

He said a technical committee set up by the
government to undertake the review and selection
process is yet to submit its report.

The minister said the committee is coming up with a
holistic investment figure enough to fix the nation’s
three refineries.

“We have not selected any firm yet even though some
firms have shown interests,” he said.

“We need about 1.2 billion dollars to repair and bring
the three refineries of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) in Port Harcourt, Warri, and
Kaduna, up to 100 percent production level.”

Kachikwu added that the cost of the project had been
determined in terms of the extent of work required.

“The total cumulative amount is in the 1.1 billion
dollars and 1.2 billion dollars category between all the
refineries. And that, of course, does not include the
pipelines,” he said.

“You have got to address the pipelines and that is
something else that is being done.”

He explained that Nigeria spent about N4.74 trillion on
the importation of petrol in the past year which was 30
percent of the total foreign exchange outlay of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“The importation of petroleum products between
January and December of last year amounted to about
20 million metric tonnes,” he added.

“A total amount of N3.4 trillion was spent, the
consumption of FX from CBN was approximately 30
percent of CBN total FX outlay, and the logistic costs
of that importation was about N1.34 trillion within the
same one-year period.”

On domestic refining capacity, Kachikwu said the
nation produced six million litres out of a total
consumption of about 35 million litres per day.

TheCable