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Fuel importation: NNPC Says Refineries Will Function At 90% by 2019

An official from Nigeria’s state oil company, NNPC said on Tuesday that refinery overhaul projects will begin in the country as soon as the second quarter of 2018.

The Chief Operating Officer of Refineries and Petrol Chemicals in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Anibor O. Kragha said the company will get Nigeria’s refineries to begin functioning at 90% capacity by the end of 2019.

“We are working with consortia right now, negotiating terms, trying to finalize the time sheets so that we can access the money… through the end of 2019.

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He revealed this at a meeting of the African Refiners Association in Cape Town- South Africa.

“We are working with consortia right now, negotiating terms, trying to finalize the time sheets so that we can access the money… through the end of 2019, when we believe we will have the minimum 90 percent capacity utilization in place, he disclosed.”

 Cragha said the government-owned corporation will start overhauling the refineries by the 2nd quarter of this year:

“We believe that by the second quarter of this year we will …start getting the ball rolling on the refurbishment and rehabilitation exercise and believe this will run to the end of next year.

The refusal of the government to deregulate the price of petrol has led to 10 million liters per day increase in consumption from 40 to 50 million.

The rise is attributed to heightened smuggling to neighboring countries, where the cost of fuel is higher.

At full capacity, Nigeria’s four refineries produce 19 million liters per day.

Nigeria had relied on import for over 90 percent of petroleum product needs as a result on non-functioning refinery of the country’s four refineries despite billions of dollars spent in their turn around maintenance in the past few years.    

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NNPC Oil