Photo Caption: From left, representative of the President/CE, Dangote Industries Limited, Engr. Babajide Soyode, Technical Consultant, Dangote Industries Limited, Dangote Oil Refinery Company Limited; AGM Training, Development & Stakeholders Relationship Management, Dr. Ebele Oputa; Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board, Director of Planning, Research & Statistics, Daziba Patrick Obah; at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Sponsor of The Nigerian Content Midstream – Downstream, Oil and Gas Summit 2022, in Lagos on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.
With the Dangote Petroleum Refinery expected to come on stream next year, the Federal Government says its target is for Nigeria to have a domestic production capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day over the next five years.
Speaking at the Nigerian Content Midstream – Downstream Oil and Gas Summit 2022, last week in Lagos, sponsored by Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote said this will be achieved through the rehabilitation of the existing four national refineries and providing strategic support for setting up private-owned Greenfield and modular refineries in the country.
According to his breakdown, “about 400,000bpd is expected from the rehabilitation of NNPC refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna, using target performance of not less than 90% of nameplate capacity. The greenfield element of the roadmap covers the 650,000bpd Dangote Refinery in Lagos and the 200,000bpd BUA Refinery in Akwa Ibom.”
Also addressing the participants, the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said the much expected 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery will guarantee the availability of high-quality environmentally compliant petroleum products in the country, as well as the intercontinental markets.
Addressing participants at the Nigerian Content Midstream – Downstream Oil and Gas Summit 2022, last week in Lagos, he said Dangote Petroleum Refinery will also promote competition among local refiners in Africa by encouraging existing large refineries to upscale, resulting in surplus products for exports.
“Dangote Petroleum Refinery will guarantee adequate fuels production for domestic consumption, availability of excess products for export, stabilisation of domestic currency, upgrading and expansion of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation refineries and promotion of prospects of Nigeria transformation to a regional refining hub,” he added.
Represented by the Technical Consultant, Dangote Industries Limited, Engr. Babajide Soyode, Dangote emphasised the need for the Federal Government to invest more in quality infrastructure to reduce the importation of refinery equipment that would ordinarily be sourced in Nigeria.
According to him, the development of specific, sustainable equipment manufacturing and services should be the focus of the NCDMB and the Federal Government.
“Funding of a project should be to ensure that a substantial part of the production plant must be of Nigerian origin; the same applies to goods and services. Government should ensure a single-digit tax regime to encourage investment in the downstream sector”, he added.
On his part, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, said there were huge opportunities in the oil and gas value chain.
Ahmed, represented by Francis Ogaree, Executive Director, Hydrocarbon Processing Plants, Installations and Transportation Infrastructure, NMDPRA, said the authority would continue to enable business in the sector.
He said the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) had introduced a governance framework for the industry with a clear delineation of roles between regulation and profit-centric business units.
Ahmed noted that the Act contained fiscal incentives to attract investment in gas development and local refining.
