The First International Conference on Petroleum Refining and
Petrochemicals has harped on the need for more efficient refineries and
petrochemical plants in the country.

Giving a keynote address at the conference which was put
together by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and the Institute
of Petroleum Studies (IPS), UNIPORT in Port Harcourt last week, PTDF’s
executive secretary, Engr. Multapha Rabe Darma said the importance of
functional refineries and petrochemical plants to the socio-economic
transformation of the nation cannot be over-emphasised.

According to Engr. Darma, aside engaging qualified workforce
meaningfully, the two industries would serve as the fulcrum for the auto,
plastic, pharmaceutical, textile, real estate, ICT accessories among other
transformation in-country.

He added that the nation’s per capital income would have a triple
digit increase if these industries are made to function efficiently noting that
petroleum products and bye products which emanate from refineries and
petrochemical, majorly oil the wheels of development the world over.

Also,  said that a
director in the Centre for Petroleum Refining and Petrochemicals IPS, and the
conference executive chairman Prof. Godwin Igwe, advocated the establishment of
modular refineries, which have the capability of producing 20 to 100 gallons of
refined products, in the 36 states of the federation if the country must move
from a net importer of refined products to a major net exporter.

“It is a shame for the Nigerian government to depend mostly
on imported fuel and still sell crude oil on daily basis. I feel ashamed seeing
Nigerians looking for fuel all over the country because of scarcity of
petroleum products,” he lamented.

He argued that with modular refineries, which are less
expensive, in place there would be enough petroleum products for domestic use
and export thus providing job for the teeming qualified Nigerians and end the
embarrassing situation of fuel importation in the country.

He noted that Nigeria has competitive advantage over other
countries because of the raw crude material it has.

He also advocated the need for energy bank in the country
that would support investors intending to venture into refining of crude oil
and other relative activities in the country.

The Group Executive
Director, Refining and Petrochemicals, Nigeiran National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC)Engr. Tony Ogbuigwe,  to meet the
challenge of the nation’s national daily consumption of petrol, kerosene and
automotive gas oil (AGO) and the West African Sub-region growing demand, the
country has to change the way it operated the refineries in the past.

“This offers the Nigerian downstream sector of the oil and
gas industry opportunity for innovation, investment in new refineries and hence
the need for transformation as envisaged in the Petroleum Industry Bill,” Engr.
Ogbuigwe pointed out.

Also stressing on the need for additional investment in
refineries in the country, the Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Mr. Reginald
Stanley, said the country needs efficient refining capacity to meet the
increasing domestic demand and for export.

Mr. Stanley explained that the current installed capacity of
the refineries can only produce 26 million litres of Petroleum Motor Spirit
(PMS), 17 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and 10 million litres of
Household kerosene (HHK) per day while the domestic demand for these products
are 40 million, 12 million and 10 million litres respectively.

He, therefore, argued that to close the huge gap in the
demand and supply of these products, there was need for additional investment
and noted “three additional Greenfield refineries (with a petrochemical plant)
with a total capacity of 300,000bpd for $23 billion have been proposed. Nigeria
is therefore, being positioned as the future hub of petroleum products supply
in the West African and Sub-Saharan region,” if implemented.

Vivian-Peace Nwinaene