Nigeria to shut oil refineries, set for revamp – NNPC boss

Nigeria has made a “conscious decision” to shut down all its oil refineries while it works to revamp them, the head of NNPC said yesterday.

The three refinery sites in Africa’s largest oil exporter have worked only sporadically due to years of underinvestment. It has been working to revamp them, but has struggled to find external financing to do so.

“Today, after proper scoping, which was not done in the past, we know exactly what to do to get them back on stream,” NNPC head Mele Kyari said. “We have also secured financing to make sure they work optimally.”

Former Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, had in 2017 shut down refineries for the same purpose.

Baru has said , the rehabilitation work would restore the refineries to nameplate capacities by 2019 when the country is expected to exit the importation of petroleum products.

He said, “As you know, it has been the perception of the public that the repairs of the refineries are never done thoroughly. So this time, our intention is to shut down the refineries when we are ready, and then fully bring them back to what they should be as new refineries.

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