Why it’s difficult fixing Nigeria’s refineries in the last 20 years – NNPC GMD

The lack of strategy and the lack of proper advisory services were responsible for Nigeria’s inability to fix its refineries in the last twenty years, the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari has said.

The NNPC chief explained that handlers of the Corporation didn’t get the right advisory services as well as they didn’t know what they wanted to do with it, thereby making the refineries go moribond in the last twenty years.

Speaking during a virtual conference organised by the Atlantic Council on Friday, the NNPC boss lamented, how it has become a mystery for an oil-producing country like Nigeria to become a net importer of petroleum products.

Kyari maintained: “This reason is very simple, we couldn’t fix our refineries and that’s very difficult to explain. Why can’t we fix our refineries? We started this very many years ago. For 20 years, all attempts to fix the refineries failed for very simple reason, there is a strategy problem.

“First, we never knew what we wanted to do with it; we didn’t get the right advisory, the right strategy to go through this. And we started a process 4 years ago to getting oil traders to come and help us fix this, that never worked. We also have the strategy to make sure that we get in the original refinery builders to help us do it. That is not their job. It’s just like you are buying a car and saying that Toyota must come and repair it for you, that doesn’t work anywhere.’’

He disclosed that Nigeria’s strategy has changed that would bring about a functional framework, adding that the new framework would encourage investors to put their money into it and ultimately change that equation.

According to him, refineries would first be fixed even as they have set a target for that and have a clear strategy for achieving it.

The NNPC boss also said that NNPC is working on building a condensate refinery in order to achieve self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products. He said that the condensate refinery which should have a total refining capacity of 200,000 barrels per day would complement production at Dangote Refinery when it takes off and the four NNPC refineries when they have been fixed and revived.