The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said
that the country does not have the financial capability to build new
refineries.
On Monday, Mele Kyari, NNPC Group Managing Director, cited
the economic situation of the country.
Kyari spoke to reporters on the controversy generated by the
proposed rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery.
He explained that a new refinery would cost about $10billion, while the planned renovation would gulp $1.5billion.
The MD said if the government decides to construct a new
facility, petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) will be
imported for another four years.
“A new refinery will take four years to commence production.
It is around $7billion and $12billion dollars to construct a refinery of this
nature,” he said.
Kyari stated that estimates in public space are inaccurate
and do not take other factors into account.
The NNPC chief mentioned “an additional 25 per cent cost for
construction battle-limits” to the 7-12 billion dollars.
“You cannot build a refinery at any cost below these
amounts. The option you have is to scrap and build a new one; we all know that
we don’t have that resource,” he stated.
Kyari added that the last turnaround maintenance of the Port
Harcourt refinery was done two decades ago.
He linked the current high cost of rehabilitation to poor
maintenance of the plant over the years.
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