Why 18 Greenfield Refineries Are Yet To Take Off

 
… Restate commitment to rehabilitation of refeneries
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cor­poration (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu has attributed the delay in commencement of the nation’s Greenfield refineries to the need to resolve all commercial and busi­ness issues on the project.
Licences for the building of greenfield re­fineries were granted to 18 firms three years ago, but they are yet to start construction rais­ing worries in some sectors as to the cause of the delay. But the NNPC boss has explained that the corporation was still planning to get investors who have been authe arrangement right for the thorised to commence work.­
The NNPC GMD who spoke in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state during the capacity build­ing workshop for journalists said, “No private investor will want to operate in a deregu­lated environment like our industry without expecting to make profit.
“We have to address all the commercial and business issues to assure players of the protection of their invest­ments,” he stated.
On the planned rehabilita­tion exercise engage the original designers of the nation’s refineries to effect their rehabilitation for optimum capacity utilisation.
NNPC disclosure is com­ing even as government an­nounced that it was going on with the sale of the refineries. Government’s announcement by the Petroleum Minister, Dizeani Alison-Madueke, early this year has generated heated controversies as vari­ous unions in the oil and gas workers have since kicked against it.
He emphasised that bring­ing back the refineries to full capacity refining would sustain the current products supply and distribution in the country.
According to him, the refin­eries were actually neglected for a long time hence their poor state.
“We are planning to bring in the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of these facilities to rehabilitate them.
Yakubu also said that in­stead of still embarking on turn around maintenance of the refineries without getting value for the investment, the corporation has decided to do proper rehabilitation of the fa­cilities using the OEMs firms that built them to be able to get maximum value.
Aside, he explained that the exercise when completed would ensure steady supply and distribution of petroleum products.
Source:sunnewsonline.com