The Minster of State for
Petroleum, Dr Ibe kachukwu, has said that it would be sad if the nation’s
refineries are not functional by the end of 2019.
According to him, the present
administration was committed to ensuring that the importation of petroleum
products was curtailed.
Kachukwu stated this on Thursday
in Ibigwe-Ohaji in Ohaji\Egbema council area of Imo during the ground-breaking
for construction of the 5,000 BPD Modular Refinery by Walter Smith
petro-chemical limited.
The project is being partnered by
the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB)
He said that the Buhari
administration was committed to ensuring that the nation’s refineries became
functional by the end of 2019.
“It would be sad if by the end of
2019 we are still importing fuel from abroad.
“So, we are committed in
repairing the refineries; by that we can at least process about 500,000 barrels
of crude per day.
“The policy of this
administration is `go back to refining about 20 per cent of our crude which
will move to 50 per cent in the next five years’”, he said.
The Minister, who commended
management of Walter Smith for partnering the NCDMB to realize the project said
that he was hopeful that in 18 months the modular refinery would be
inaugurated.
Also, the Executive Secretary of
the NCDMB, Mr Kesiye Wabote, said the Board invested US $10 million to catalyze
the development of the Modular refinery and took 30 per cent equity in the
project.
He added that the NCDMB would
divest when the modular refinery was fully developed and operational.
Wabote pointed out that NCDMB was
promoting the Walter Smith Modular refinery as part of its capacity development
mandate .
He said that the investment was
also in line with the Nigeria Content 10- year strategic plan.
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