Nigeria’s new oil minister, Heineken Lokpobiri, has revealed that the country’s four oil refineries will resume operations by the end of next year.
Nigeria, a West African nation, is one of the world’s top oil producers, yet it does not refine crude oil domestically. The state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) operates four refineries: two in Port Harcourt (PHRC), one each in Kaduna (KRPC), and Warri (WRPC). Despite several efforts to revive the refineries, none of them has been operating at full capacity for years.
Lokpobiri inspected ongoing refurbishment at the two-unit 210,000 Port Harcourt refinery on Friday
“From what we have seen here today, Port Harcourt refinery will come on board by the end of the year,” he said, adding that two other facilities in Warri and Kaduna would start processing crude between the first quarter and end of 2024.
“Our objective… is to ensure that in the next few years, Nigeria stops fuel importation,” Lokpobiri said.
Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote opened a 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) integrated, private refinery in May. At the time, Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the central bank, claimed that the refinery would generate 12,000 megawatts of electricity, create more than 135,000 permanent jobs, and save the nation between $25 billion and $30 billion in foreign exchange annually. Nigerians are still eagerly awaiting its commencement.