Senate President Godswill Akpabio has tasked the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to seek ways of deepening the consumption of locally produced petroleum products.
He also called for the establishment of modular refineries, as well as the renovation of existing ones “to create a multiplier effect which will include the creation of jobs for our teeming youths and more security for the country.”
He spoke when the Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, led the management team on a courtesy visit to him at the National Assembly yesterday.
Akpabio said the Red Chamber would partner with the NNPCL in creating legislation that would smoothen the ease of business for stakeholders in the oil and gas sector.
Earlier, Kyari said that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) has ensured that “energy supply is stable, creating cheaper energy” for Nigerians.
He said the Corporation has “robust supply plants from now until next year; we have always planned for three months. And I guarantee you your Excellency that we will not see any shortages of petroleum products in our country.”
While linking the challenges in the sector to oil theft and pipeline vandalism, Kyari said that the country has recovered up to N1.7 million barrels of crude oil following increased monitoring and supervision of the facilities by independent pipeline security companies, and the military.
He said, “In the last 5-6 months government security agencies and private security companies have done things differently, and it has yielded results.”
He assured the leadership of the Senate that the NNPCL would restart the Port Harcourt refinery in December, followed by the Warri refinery to start in the first quarter of 2024.
He added that these would be complemented by small-scale refineries, as he underscored that the Corporation has recorded a N274 million profit in 2021, a growth from 2018.
Accordingly, Kyari maintained that the NNPCL may post a profit over N2 trillion in 2023; adding that in 2024 Nigeria will be a net exporter of petroleum products.
