An indigenous investor, Daminago Ogaji has flagged off construction activities at the $50 million modular refinery Ikwe-Onna Refinery in Ikwe village Onnna Local Government area of Akwa Ibom State.
The refinery is by design specification, a 5000 barrels per day capacity.
Inaugurating the refinery, the minister of state for petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachukwu who was assisted by the Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel commended the effort of company saying the federal government was ever ready to support such gesture.
He said such initiative following due process will always be encouraged by the federal government to ensure that the challenges of crude oil refining become a thing of the past.
Also speaking, the Minister of Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonaya Onu said the federal government will want to encourage local content in the petroleum sector with a view to achieving regular supply products.
Onu said “There are always policies in place for the establishment of refineries and except you have all these policies in place and pass through the due process before you start anything otherwise the federal government will be very angry with whatever you are doing illegal refinery.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Managing Director of Ikwe- ONNA Refinery, Mr. Daminago Ogaji disclosed that Ikwe Onna Refinery is one of the modular refineries which the federal government is looking at to boost its local production
According to him, for now, “the company will start with a capacity of 5,000 barrels per day to be beefed up to 20, 000 bpd in midterm and will hit 100,000 bpd in future.
“The Model is different as we bring in the community as co partners of what we are doing here. They share 10 percent of what we have. So we work symbiotically. If you talk of militancy how do you address it without them being part of you and that is the way forward, getting the local community as part owners and we work together as a family’.
