By Ayo Yusuf
As the behemoth 650000 bpd Dangote Refinery misses its August production deadline, the Federal Government has been urged to focus on finishing the Port Harcourt refinery by December as promised.
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, had said at the official commissioning of his refinery by former President Muhammadu Buhari in May, that, “our first product will be in the market before the end of July or beginning of August this year.”
However, the refinery has not refined a drop of fuel weeks after that promised deadline and the management of the company remains cagey about when the refinery would indeed begin operations.
Consequently, the President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSON, Festus Osifo, said it was vital that the Federal Government focuses on completing the Port Harcourt refinery rather than waiting on the Dangote refinery.
He said, “We should rather focus on making other refineries work because it would cut down on freight rates from importation, and would reduce prices.
“Dangote is a private businessman and can decide tomorrow that he would not refine again, although the government has a 20 per cent stake in the refinery. We should rather push for our own refineries, and ask the government the question such as; when is the Port Harcourt refinery going to start refining petrol?”
The National Controller Operations, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, who said the management of the Dangote refinery may have delayed production due to some internal challenges agreed that it was time to look at the prospects of other local refineries.
He said the Federal Government would do well to look elsewhere rather than hedge all its bets on Dangote refinery.
It would be recalled that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, on Friday, announced that the Port Harcourt Refinery Company would begin operations in December this year.
He disclosed this while inspecting the rehabilitation exercise at the Port Harcourt Refining Company plant in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, according to a statement issued in Abuja by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The minister, who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, said based on the level of progress recorded at the project, the plant would come back on stream by December.
“Our objective in coming here today is to ensure that in the next few years, Nigeria stops fuel importation. From what we have seen here today, Port Harcourt Refinery will come on board by the end of the year,” he was quoted as saying.
He also said, “Warri will come on stream by the end of the first quarter of next year, and Kaduna will also come on board towards the end of next year. If you add that to the Dangote Refinery, we will be able to stop fuel importation, and Nigerians will enjoy the full benefits of deregulation.”
The minister said he was satisfied with the ongoing rehabilitation work at the Port Harcourt refinery, noting that once all the refineries were back on stream, Nigerians would enjoy a better supply of petroleum products and foreign exchange would be domesticated.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said at the event that bringing back the refineries to their optimal levels was a national aspiration and the company remained focused on delivering that.
“We are aware of our nation’s challenges in terms of fuel supply. But we are not here to give excuses. We are focused on delivering this rehabilitation project, our two other refineries, and all other investments towards revamping the nation’s refining capacity.
“We are hopeful that in 2024, this country will be a net exporter of petroleum products,” Mr. Kyari stated.
On his part, the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Mr. Ekpo, said, “We are here to go into the field. Yesterday was the era of subsidies. Today, we don’t have subsidies.
“Today, people are in a desperate situation to heave a sigh of relief and see how to live. You all know that petrol is very vital to our economy. All hands must be on deck to ensure that the refineries are working.”
The failure of the Dangote group to begin production at its Ibeju-Lekki facility has also thrown a spanner in the works of the government’s overall fuel plan for the year.
TheNewDiplomat gathered that the Federal Government had been so sure that the Dangote refinery would begin selling refined products by August that it arranged to cut down on fuel imports by August.
Spokesperson for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Garba Deen said in June that it was necessary because the Dangote Refinery would begin to push out refined petroleum products by then.
Corroborating this after a meeting with oil marketers in Abuja, also in June, the Chief Executive, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency, Farouk Ahmed, also said NNPCL had arranged to cut down on importation by the end of August.
