The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it plans to establish new refineries in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and in Warri, Delta State, to operate along side the existing ones.
The corporation also disclosed that a group of investors had commenced the process of relocating a refinery that used to be owned by BP from Turkey to Nigeria.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the NNPC said the plans are part of its refinery collocation initiative designed to boost local refining capacity in order to end the era of petroleum products importation.
Maikanti Baru, NNPC Group Managing Director, disclosed this while speaking on efforts being made to achieve self-sufficiency in local refining besides the rehabilitation of Nigerian refineries.
Baru explained that the refinery from Turkey would be installed near the Port Harcourt refinery under the NNPC refinery collocation initiative.
“It’s not a modular refinery; it’s a normal refinery with about 100,00bpd capacity. It was owned by the BP, but it has been sold off now to the companies that want to bring it over from Turkey to install it here,” Baru explained, adding that a similar plan to establish a brownfield refinery near the Warri refinery was also in the making.
He said, “There is another one of about the same size being looked at to be sited near the Warri refinery. But the one for Port Harcourt is at a more advanced stage.”