Notorious for flip flops in policy enunciation, implementation and monitoring, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has come up with a new plan to hand over its two moribund refineries in Warri and Kaduna to private maintenance operators.
The NNPCL made the announcement via a post on its official X handle on Friday.
This decision is not sitting well with some Nigerians and industry watchers who wonder why this is happening after the national oil company had pumped huge sums in billions of dollar during numerous rounds of Turn Around Maintenance (TAM).
An analyst on Arise TV, Godwin Ibe advised for an outright sale of the refineries, insisting if the government still wanted to participate in its management it should retain some minimum amount of shares.
Whereas the Kaduna refinery with a 50,000 B/D capacity was put into service in 1980 to deliver petroleum products to Northern Nigeria. By constructing a second 50,000 B/D crude train in 1983 specifically for the production of lubricating oils (lubes), the capacity was increased to 100,000 B/D. The initial crude train’s capacity was increased to 60,000 B/D in 1986. The refinery’s current nameplate capacity is 110,000 B/D thanks to the additions.
In 1978, the Delta State refinery at Warri came into production. The refinery is a sophisticated conversion unit with a nameplate distillation capacity of 12,55,000 bpd or 6,250,000 MTA. One of the petrochemical plants in the refinery complex was put into operation in 1988 and has the capacity to produce 18,000 MTA of carbon black and 13,000 MTA of polypropylene. The refinery is intended to supply markets in most of Southern Nigeria.