Related Posts
The Senate on Tuesday lamented the multi-billion dollar being paid by the Federal Government to subsidise refined petroleum products for Nigerians.
The upper chamber has, therefore, mandated its petroleum committee to invite the Ministry of Petroleum and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to brief it on the status of existing refineries in the country.
It also asked the committee to ascertain the true position of things with the newly licensed modular refineries.
The decision followed a motion by Sen Rose Oko (PDP — Cross River) on a motion entitled, ‘Existing Petroleum Subsidy: Ensuring Self-Sufficiency in Domestic Refining of Petroleum Products’.
The motion had 42 other senators as sponsors.
Speaking on the motion at the plenary, Oko said although Nigeria was producing 1.7m barrels of crude oil per day, its moribund refineries had little refining capacity.
She lamented that the nation was importing about 90 per cent of its fuel, negating much of the benefits accruing to oil producing nations from high crude prices.
She said despite the resources expended on turnaround maintenance, none of the NNPC’s four refineries currently functioned up to 50 per cent of their combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.
She added that data from the Department of Petroleum Resources website indicated that a total of 633,000 barrels per day refining capacity had already been lost due to the expiration of licences of both conventional and modular refinery projects.
Oko, who also spoke on the fuel subsidy, said more than $160m was spent on subsidy in early 2017.
In his submission, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who is also a major player in the petroleum industry, asked the Senate to invite other stakeholders for the parley.
He said the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Department of Petroleum Resources should be part of the talks.
Ubah noted with regret that Federal Government’s policy of importing refined petroleum products while still trying to encourage local production would never encourage investors.
He said, “There is a reason many people are scared of investing in modular refinery. They are afraid that the Federal Government would continue to import fuel and that would affect their business.
“The Nigerian government should, as a matter of urgency, go to our reserve and take $1bn and use it to guarantee the investment of those who have invested heavily in modular refineries.
“If we release $10bn to 1,000 companies with proven capacity to manage modular refineries, the nation would have more than enough fuel supply and refined petroleum products importation would be a thing of the past.”
Other senators including Barau Jibril, Thompson Sekibo and Ali Ndume also called for grants to support the actualisation of the 43 modular refineries in the country.
The Senate in a voice vote urged the committee on petroleum downstream and upstream, when constituted, to report back to the upper chamber on the status of modular and existing refineries in eight weeks time.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said the motion was designed to ensure that the 43 licensed modular refineries became operational. (Punch)
The upper chamber has, therefore, mandated its petroleum committee to invite the Ministry of Petroleum and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to brief it on the status of existing refineries in the country.
It also asked the committee to ascertain the true position of things with the newly licensed modular refineries.
The decision followed a motion by Sen Rose Oko (PDP — Cross River) on a motion entitled, ‘Existing Petroleum Subsidy: Ensuring Self-Sufficiency in Domestic Refining of Petroleum Products’.
The motion had 42 other senators as sponsors.
Speaking on the motion at the plenary, Oko said although Nigeria was producing 1.7m barrels of crude oil per day, its moribund refineries had little refining capacity.
She lamented that the nation was importing about 90 per cent of its fuel, negating much of the benefits accruing to oil producing nations from high crude prices.
She said despite the resources expended on turnaround maintenance, none of the NNPC’s four refineries currently functioned up to 50 per cent of their combined capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.
She added that data from the Department of Petroleum Resources website indicated that a total of 633,000 barrels per day refining capacity had already been lost due to the expiration of licences of both conventional and modular refinery projects.
Oko, who also spoke on the fuel subsidy, said more than $160m was spent on subsidy in early 2017.
In his submission, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who is also a major player in the petroleum industry, asked the Senate to invite other stakeholders for the parley.
He said the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Department of Petroleum Resources should be part of the talks.
Ubah noted with regret that Federal Government’s policy of importing refined petroleum products while still trying to encourage local production would never encourage investors.
He said, “There is a reason many people are scared of investing in modular refinery. They are afraid that the Federal Government would continue to import fuel and that would affect their business.
“The Nigerian government should, as a matter of urgency, go to our reserve and take $1bn and use it to guarantee the investment of those who have invested heavily in modular refineries.
“If we release $10bn to 1,000 companies with proven capacity to manage modular refineries, the nation would have more than enough fuel supply and refined petroleum products importation would be a thing of the past.”
Other senators including Barau Jibril, Thompson Sekibo and Ali Ndume also called for grants to support the actualisation of the 43 modular refineries in the country.
The Senate in a voice vote urged the committee on petroleum downstream and upstream, when constituted, to report back to the upper chamber on the status of modular and existing refineries in eight weeks time.
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said the motion was designed to ensure that the 43 licensed modular refineries became operational. (Punch)
