NNPC To Partner Investors On Lekki Refinery Dev

The Group Management Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Mohammed Barkindo, said the corporation will partner investors to develop the Lekki Greenfield Refinery near Lagos with the aim of starting production in 2017. Barkindo reassured ONGC Mittal Energy (OMEL), Oando and other oil firm that NNPC fully supports building the country’s first crude refinery in more than 20 years. Nigeria’s four state owned refineries have failed to keep pace with surging domestic demand for electricity and fuel, forcing Africa’s biggest energy producer to import 85 per cent of its fuel needs. “OMEL and some other investors needed some commitment from the state to be able to continue with the investment”, Levi Ajuonuma, NNPC spokesman said in a statement. OMEL, a joint venture between India’s state run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Mittal Group, have already completed feasibility studies and formed a steering committee for the new refinery. African Petroleum and Oando are also investors in the project. Other possible partners include Total, Eni and China’s Tianjin Energy Resources, NNPC said. Nigeria’s refineries have a nameplate capacity of 445,000 barrels per day but have never operated at that level. Even if they were able to operate at full capacity, they would produce only a fraction of the needs of the country’s 140 million people.