Refineries Will Be Functional In 2023 – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on Sunday disclosed that it will get the refineries in the country running by 2023.

The refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna have not been functional for several years.

The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, while speaking on a TV programme on Sunday noted that it was currently impractical to float the refineries commercially and beneficially.

Kyari stating this alongside the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, in a virtual dialogue during the programme.

He further stated that the private investors would work with the corporation to fix the refineries, he added that the model adopted in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company could be used for refineries.

“In this model, NNPC is going to be the minority partner in the refineries,” he said.

According to him, refineries in the country are currently dormant but noted that NNPC is working hard to get them back to life in order to begin domestic refining of crude.

The Minister while speaking noted that the National Assembly would soon commence work in earnest on the Petroleum Industry Bill in two weeks.

Sylva expressed hopes that the bill, which had dragged for years without being passed, would become law under the current administration.

The minister insisted that the downstream oil sector had been deregulated and that petrol price would be determined by global crude oil prices.