The Organised Private Sector and oil marketers have demanded the immediate privatisation of the Port Harcourt and Warri refineries after the apparently poorly executed repairs caused both plants to squander roughly $2.4 billion and go back into dormancy within six months of opening.
However, the regulatory agency of the midstream and downstream arms of the oil sector said the privatisation of these plants would only happen if approved by the Federal Executive Council, as officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources stayed mute on the latest call by the OPS.
The PUNCH reports that calls for the privatisation of the government-owned refineries, under the management of NNPCL, intensified following the shutdown of the 60,000 barrels-per-day old Port Harcourt Refining Company, six months after it was declared operational.
The PUNCH recalls that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company was shut down in January, barely a month after it was declared operational. It was reported that the Federal Government had spent up to $2.4bn on the turnaround maintenance of the facilities.
In an interview with The PUNCH, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of MEMAN, Clement Isong, said MEMAN had consistently requested that the facilities be handed over to professional refinery managers. Isong said Nigeria needed the refinery to avoid a single source of fuel distribution or supply, saying there should be healthy competition with the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
“I have been consistent. We need those refineries. We need them to work. And we have been consistent in proposing that the refineries be handed over to professional refinery managers, whether with or without a stake, in order to ensure that there is some competition with Dangote. We think that competition is always important in the sector,” Isong said.
Read more at: https://abntv.com.ng/news/ops-calls-for-refinery-sale-after-poor-2-4bn-repairs/
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