The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has said two of the state-run refineries may be re-streamed before the end of December.
A statement signed by Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ohi Alegbe, on Wednesday, December 16, explained that the minister said based on available reports, the refineries may come alive again.
“On the current state of the refineries, Dr. Kachikwu stated that from the available reports before him, two of the refineries may be re-streamed before the end of December, 2015,” the statement read.
It added that efforts are on to engage private investors to build new refineries within the old ones to enable the refineries share power, pipelines and other resources.
The statement explained that Kachikwu spoke during an interactive session with members of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The minister said the menace of pipeline vandalism has led to huge losses of oil and petroleum products, lamenting that the pipelines were vandalised 27, 967 timwes over the last few years.
He said unutilised pipelines and poor pipeline integrity also led to high cost of trucking and its attendant destructive impact on the roads.
In a presentation titled: ‘The Roadmap for Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Sector,’ Kachikwu said the average national oil production as at July this year stood at 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) equity production is 99,000 bpd.
He said the declining Joint Venture reserves were due to inadequate and low investment in oil assets, stressing that the issue of funding constraints must be addressed going forward with the collaboration of private and international investors.
