December 2019 will be the last time that Nigeria will import refined petroleum products into the country.
The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru, affirmed this deadline as a special guest at the Offshore Technology Conference 2018 Nigeria Oil Industry Award Dinner in Houston, Texas, United States, The Guardian reported.
Although Nigeria is one of the world’s largest crude oil producers and exporters, the country still massively imports refined petroleum products to meet the 50 million-litre daily consumption in Nigeria.
However, Baru said this will change before the December 2019 deadline.
To achieve this, he said, the four refineries in the country will be revamped to operate at 90 percent operating capacity.
Baru said a ‘contractor-financing’ model would be adopted in the rehabilitation of the state-owned refineries.
He said, “This model is expected to be a self-sustaining financial model with near zero reliance on the federal government funds. For smooth running and implementation, we are also changing the operating and commercial framework of the refineries to make them work efficiently and be commercially viable.”
He further disclosed that the tendering process for the companies interested in the rehabilitation had been completed and successful companies would soon be announced.
In the same vein, the NNPC boss that 35 modular refineries have expressed interest in getting licenses to refine products and generate jobs.
He said that 13 of these have already been licensed by the Department of Petroleum Resources.