GIFT ROBERTS
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has said that the nation’s financial capacity is not enough to build new refineries.
The NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, disclosed this on Monday while speaking to newsmen based on the controversies surrounding the federal government plan to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery.
Kyari, who spoke about the current economic situation of the country explained that a new refinery would cost about $10 billion, while the planned renovation would gulp $1.5 billion, adding that even if the government finally agrees to construct a new refinery, they will still import petroleum products, especially the Premium Motor Spirit for another four years.
“A new refinery will take four years to commence production. It is around $7 billion and $12 billion 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 said.
He further said that the current state of the Port Harcourt refinery was due to lack of maintenance, adding that the last time the refinery experienced maintenance was over 10 years ago.