Silence over NNPC’s acclaimed contractor-financing option for refineries worrisome
Strong indications have emerged suggesting that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Ministry of Petroleum Resources may have run out of strategic ideas in the revival of the ailing four national refineries.
This is based on the fact that since the last three to five months when the corporation said it is working on a fresh template to secure deep pocket contractors who are willing to repair the refineries on a contractor-financing basis, nothing has been heard till today.
It would be recalled that the ministry resorted to the strange model when the National Assembly discarded a proposal from the NNPC asking for fresh $1.8bn for the Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) of all four refineries which include two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri, Delta State and another in Kaduna.
The lawmakers had relied on fruitlessness of previous approvals for the same job to reject the request before the NNPC said they are resorting to contractor-financing model which is yet to see the light of the day, months later.
Contrary to the electoral promises of the current administration that Nigeria will be self-sufficient in petroleum products if voted into power in 2015 as it will within one year in government, fix all the refineries and further build additional six, one in each region, few months to the end of the four-year administration, Nigeria is still in the mess of crude swap where crude oil is exchanged with refined products.
Analysts say but for the surveillance of eagle-eyed Nigerians and the National Assembly, a number of national assets would have been sold including the four refineries.
However, rather than giving insights on efforts at reviving the petrochemicals, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, at the 2018 graduation of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Effurunm, recently said two modular refineries would be commissioned in Delta and Rivers states in December.
He hinted that government had issued licences for 38 of the facilities which he claimed were at different stages of completion, but was silent on efforts of his ministry in reviving the refineries.
