The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has issued 47 Licences to Establish (LTE) and 30 Licences to Construct (LTC) refineries in one year as part of its initiatives to improve Nigeria’s local crude oil refining capacity.
The Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, who gave this hint on Tuesday during the sixth Meet-the-Press briefing in Abuja, said the licences have a combined refining capacity of nearly 3 million barrels per day (bpd).
He said: “We have issued 47 Licences to Establish covering 1.75 million bpd and 30 Licenses to Construct for 1.23 million bpd. Currently, only four plants hold Licenses to Operate with a steady output of 27,000 bpd.”
He listed the LTC projects totalling five and which are commissioning or construction stages, as including Dangote Refinery (650,000 bpd), AIPCC Energy (30,000 bpd), and Waltersmith’s second train (5,000 bpd)
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According to him, six licensed private refineries and four public ones are currently producing a total of 1.12 million barrels per day (bpd).
Ahmed disclosed that the private refineries were producing 679,500 bpd, with Dangote leading at 650,000 bpd, followed by Aradel (11,000 bpd), OPAC (10,000 bpd), Waltersmith (5,000 bpd), Duport Midstream Limited (2,500 bpd), and Edo Refining and Petrochemicals Company Limited (1,000 bpd).
In addition, he said that the public refineries, managed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, were adding 445,000 bpd from Port Harcourt (150,000 bpd and 60,000 bpd), Warri (125,000 bpd), and Kaduna (110,000 bpd).
While stressing the NMDPRA management’s plans to further boost Nigeria’s crude oil refining capacity for economic growth, job creation, and energy security, Ahmed said: “These developments underline our commitment to reducing dependency on imported refined products.”
Recent approvals for modular refineries in Edo, Delta, and Abia will add 140,000 bpd upon completion.
