Hope rises for drop in fuel import as firms commit N270b to new refinery

PRIVATE sector operators are gradually breaking the ice over setting up plants to refine crude oil and process gas in Nigeria.
Six days after President Goodluck Jonathan commissioned the Orient Refinery in Anambra State, some oil and finance firms have signed a joint venture financing agreement to establish a N270 billion Greenfield Refinery with capacity to process 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in Ibeno Local Council of Akwa Ibom State.
When the refinery begins operation in 2014 as planned by the operators, there is hope that Nigeria’s current dependence on imported refined products would drop. The expectation of a possible decline in oil import is further fuelled by the recent opening of Orient Petroleum Refinery, which has the capacity to produce 55,000 bpd.
The partnership on the new refinery in Akwa Ibom State is between Qua Petroleum Refinery Limited and Niger Delta Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited, a subsidiary of Eton Finance Private Ltd.
The deal was signed in Abuja yesterday with Mr. Essien Asuquo Ekanem endorsing for Qua Petroleum Refinery Limited while Mr. Allan Rennie represented the Niger Delta Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited/Eton Finance Private Ltd.

Under the agreement, Eton Group will provide N270 billion ($1.7 billion) from which N222 billion ($1.4 billion) will be spent on the engineering and construction of the export designated refinery while the balance of N47.7 billion ($300) million will go for start-up operations and feedstock.
At the event, Rennie, who is the Managing Director of Niger Delta Refinery and Petrochemicals Company and Director, Eton Finance Private Ltd, said the construction of the refinery would start before the end of this year.
Rennie said all financial and administrative formalities for the project, which had been awaiting funding since 1996, would be completed within the next two months in order to move to re-engineering and approvals for the fabrication and construction phase before the end of 2012.
He explained that following an approval by the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR), the construction of the refinery is expected to be completed between 18 and 24 months with first production schedule late 2014 or early 2015 depending on the Federal Government’s support.
The firm’s chief noted that the state-of-the art refinery is expected to provide about 750 direct jobs while another 4,000 to 7,000 jobs would be created externally in supporting functions.

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