The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria has given the country’s state oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), approval to acquire 20% minority stakes in the Dangote Petroleum and Petro-Chemical Refinery for $2.76 billion. The announcement was made in a State House correspondent briefing by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on 4 August.
Currently under construction in Lagos, the 650,000 barrel-per-day Dangote Refinery is scheduled for commissioning by January and is expected to expand oil production in the country and help meet national demand – which is currently reliant on imports from Europe.
The Minister added during the briefing that the council has also approved $1.5 billion in contracts to Messrs Saipem SPA and Saipem Contracting Ltd. for the rehabilitation and modernization of the Warri and Kaduna Refineries.
H.E. Minister Sylva stated that the rehabilitation of the Warri Refinery will cost approximately $897 million, while the Kaduna Refinery will cost $587 million. The modernization program will be completed in three phases, with the first to be completed within 21 months; phase two in 23 months; and phase three in 33 months.
“It’s going to change the dynamics of petroleum supply globally,” stated Mele Kyari, the Managing Director of the NNPC. According to Kyari, modernizing the refineries will transform Nigeria’s petroleum sector, in which the NNPC “will be the supplier for West Africa legitimately and also many other parts of the world.”
The NNPC has noted that the move is in line with the corporation’s efforts to improve energy security in Nigeria.
